Sunday, April 24, 2011

Movie Audiences Shrug at Ayn Rand Film

Despite opening wide this week, Atlas Shrugged, Part 1, has crashed at the box office.

The movie is ranked #18 in gross sales this week versus #14 last week, when it was released at a limited number theatres. Gross box office sales have not crossed the million dollar mark for this weekend. They stand at $878,709. Total take for the release to date is $3,094,490.

The movie was made with a $10 million budget.

36 comments:

  1. This movie will make money on DVD.

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  2. Unreleased here in the UK...

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  3. Sounds like they'll need a moneybomb to make the other two!

    Seriously, they say it has "opened wide" this week, but it is only playing around here at the exact same theaters it started at. My friend in Stockton CA says that now he would only need to drive 24 miles to the nearest theater showing it, instead of driving all the way to Sacramento last weekend.

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  4. Seems you've jumped the gun with this assessment. Scream 4 and others dropped off as well while Hop increased significantly--a pretty clear holiday weekend driven phenomenon!

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  5. Um, the movie had a $10 million budget plus $10 million more for marketing and distribution. I don't think they can sell enough DVDs to make up for a likely piss poor $5 M dollar theatrical gross.

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  6. That's disappointing.
    I haven't gotten a chance to see it yet, but I heard it was really well done.
    My parents, who do not really know about individualism or objectivism really liked it when they saw it.

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  7. It was only shown on a few screens.

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  8. I saw the movie and thought it was quite good, with decent acting, direction, story telling, and special effects. It was refreshing to find most movie viewes agree and has gotten very favorable comments and reviews from regualr movie goers. This is in significant contrast to the utterly negative reviews from professional critics and the harsh criticism from many of the most devoted Rand followers. If you have not seen it yet ignore the professional reviewers, go see it and make up your own mind.

    I hope this movie makes money for many reasons, but mainly so I have the chance to see Part 2 and 3.

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  9. As noted before, it will make money on dvd. Making films based on books having a near cult following guarantees a certain amount of interest and greatly lowers marketing costs.

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  10. People are not going to spend money to see this movie in the theater. They will spend 5 bucks to rent it off onDemand, amazon, or iTunes however.

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  11. They'll make the 10 million back on the DVD, and maybe a million more. They won't make massive profits on this though. It's a shame that Hollywood was prevented from making a high budget version of Atlas, due to the idiot who owns the rights.

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  12. So what if it makes money on DVD, parts 2 and beyond won't get made if part 1 is a flop.

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  13. People still go to the movies?

    Ta,

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  14. yea....cuz of all the college students who will want to skip the book

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  15. What more should we expect from the same brain dead idiots that voted for the kenyan fraud.

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  16. Good books rarely make good movies.

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  17. Our family does not enjoy the theater experience at all regardless of the movie in question, and we cannot wait until Atlas Shrugged comes out on DVD!

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  18. There will also be revenue from foreign and domestic video sales, video rentals, TV rights and ancillary sales, as well as foreign theatrical distribution. It's too early to say that it crashed and burned.

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  19. I wanted to see it but the nearest theater that was showing it is 80 miles away.

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  20. We saw the movie and thought it was quite good. If Parts 2 and 3 are just half as good as Part 1, we will also buy the DVDs.

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  21. I bought my ticket in solidarity with the John Galts of the world on April 15. I liked it. If you take your Bushbama friends to see it, they will not get it. Worse, they might get the idea that those anti-dog-eat-dog laws would be a good idea.

    Bushbamas love war. They love Other People's Money. They've never heard of Bastiat much less Rothbard, von Mises, Rockwell, etc.

    I support Ron Paul for 2012, but I do not expect Bushbamas to come around. Somehow, they have been conditioned to "love their tax refunds" instead of fighting a stamp act, a tea tax, or anything else that sparked the revolution of 1776,

    The moochers will forever- mooch.

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  22. I loved the movie. I don't recall getting to sit in such a productive value-space as created by that movie. When the John Galt Line sped along that track across that bridge, I could not keep it together. That was so beautiful.

    Compared to the skeptical, tear-down, head-banger drivel of most movies, this was a real upper.

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  23. Saw the very first showing on April 15. I really enjoyed the movie, and I will buy it on DVD for myself and for gifts. Theater about 1/3 capacity and people gave it a standing O at the end.

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  24. It's 10.00 to see a movie where I live. I always wait for DVD.

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  25. Not sure what "opening wide" means but the only way to get perspective is to look at the revenue per screen. A few days ago it was at number three. Anyone know what it is now? I also note that according to "Rotten Tomatoes", 6 percent of professional critics liked it while 85 percent of viewers liked it. Probably the same could be said for the book. In any case saying it "has crashed at the box office" is grossly misleading unless the revenue per screen is taken into account

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  26. IMO, the story would play out better on screen if it were "Watchmen"-ized and story-boarded like Sin City. The theme is incredibly powerful and there were several "Aha" moments in the theatre of 15 people I saw it with. I thought Wyatt Ellis, Wesley Mouch, and Hank Rearden were the best acted parts and Dagny's Anakin impersonation at the end "NOOOOOOOOO!!!" made me LOL. Overall, I loved the film bc I loved the book and therefore wasn't thrown off by the cheapness of the production. I will buy the DVD set of all 3 as soon as it becomes available

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  27. Um, I think the fact that AS-1 has no chance of recouping even half of its $20 million budget qualifies it as a "crash and burn" - even if in the first week it did take in more revenue per screen than Scream 4.

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  28. As soon as I heard that Rand's novel was being produced w/second tier actors/actresses I knew it would bomb.You cannot expect to produce a first class movie without top talent.Look at Gary Cooper/Patricia Neal in the Fountainhead;pure magic. This Shrugged disaster should have never been produced without top people...too bad it was wasted.

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  29. Please understand, I loved the book and do not consider myself an Objectivist, but I am a fan of Ayn Rand. I waited anxiously to see this movie, like many others. I read and watched all the updates as they came in. I saw Atlas Shrugged in Atlanta on opening night.... and believe me, I wanted so bad to like it. But I am a realist, and this movie is absolutely terrible. I respect the hard work that everyone claims to have did on the film, from the producers to the actors but that does not mean I'm going to give them a free pass for being Ayn Rand fans who "tried real hard." The result is a mess. In leaving out crucial details, giving away the plot, rushed filming and acting, corny looking computer animation, and flat out uninspired casting on the part of Dagny and Rearden - in their defense, the screenplay was simply awful as well - they took one of the most influential novels of our time and turned it into a bad, made-for-tv-movie.
    So many fans seem unwilling to face facts, and it is not helping matters. I refuse to congratulate someone just because they spent some money and time on turning a book into a movie. This movie is a colossal let down. My hope is that it will someday be attempted again in my lifetime. Now, however, I realize it's a foolish hope.

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  30. I've seen it twice, and loved it both times. My wife and two teen aged children also enjoyed it. It is about the story people, and even though the acting was not top notch, I think they pulled off Rand's book very well.

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  31. Anonymous 2:19, maybe you've never heard of Citizen Kane. Most would agree it did pretty well with a cast of no name actors from a municipal theater company. Are you suggesting that it would have been better with a Tom Cruise or Nick Cage as Hank Rearden? Please no!

    I say see it and decide for yourself. I foolishly read the Washington Post's review of the movie, and only to find it never even discussed the movie at all. Rather it spent 2 paragraphs trashing a book that has been a Best Seller for over 50 years.

    If you have read and appreciate Atlas Shrugged, then you know why this book is good and why so many people hate it. That you would trust a MSM opinion on the movie version tells me that you just don't get the book, what it represents, or anything much at all. Maybe you can write a letter and get Spielberg to make a version more friendly to people of your mindset. Complete with Tom Cruise, Megan Fox, transforming cars, martial arts, explosions and all such things that you feel make for a great movie in denial of all fact and reality...

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  32. I was lucky enough to see this film at a sneak preview. While I was excited, I was not optimistic. Having seen the Fountainhead, I had low expectations. That movie proved that Rand's stories, while fantastic, did not translate well to the screen, even when she had a hand in a film's creation.

    That said, I was very impressed with Atlas Shrugged. Some will, of course, criticize the acting, but I felt that the actors did an excellent job of reflecting who these people were. The so-called heroes were bold and unflinching in the face of opposition, while the moochers and looters were sniveling rats.

    It was originally set to air in what? A handful of cities? The media was super critical and there was hardly a massive advertising campaign to speak of. On the other hand, this movie's success will be measured not in dollars, but the people who see it and think.

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  33. I haven't seen Atlas Shrugged..though I read the book..Rand's prose is simply too stilted for me..the ideas are treasures..but the obviousness of every fiction work is almost comic book like...

    My real reason for posting is to call out the gutless Anonymous posters here! I can't believe that a site that stands for integrity and liberty is full of people with cajones the size of beebees! Really..grow some....

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  34. At most, the film will make $6 million in DVD sales over the next two years. That may be wildly optimistic even if Ayn Rand's supporters pick up the movie since it seems unlikely Pt. 2 or 3 will ever be made and who wants to own Pt. 1 without the hope of ever owning the remainder?

    The movie didn't do bad on a per screen basis, but failed to increase the number of screens shown the next week which is not surprising since theaters are already booked well in advance to show other movies.

    The movie was better than I feared considering the ponderous Rand, the endorsement of her Institute and the incredibly low budget. Much better actually. And I was surprised at how many young people got the messages.

    Still, I don't see this becoming a cult film which is the only way a fictional film can make a profit if released through means other than the studios.

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  35. Anonymous from April 24, 2011 9:44 PM said:

    It's now post-Thanksgiving 2011. Now that the Atlas Shrugged Part 1 DVD/Blue Ray versions have been released, it seems to be selling quite well. Walmart Online shows that it is sold out. Blockbuster does not sell it in-store; it's for rent only (their loss). It has already sold out at most of the nearest dozen Houston metro BestBuy stores and I'm hoping a copy will be available in-store for Christmas gift purchase this week. Obviously, people do WANT it.

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