After browsing the blog-o-sphere, I've found that there are two polarized camps arguing over the success/failure of Ben Stein's documentray "Expelled - No Intelligence Allowed." That's no big surprise considering the hot topic issues evolution, creationism, intelligent design, and (most importantly) freedom of speech.
On the one hand, the mvoie is the 6th top grossing political documentary of all time. It also has BY FAR the largest grossing opening of any political documentary. Seems like those are some pretty hard facts to show that the movie has had at least SOME success.
The other side of the coin seems to take a more complicated approach to prove the failure of the film. For one funny example, check out this blog. I know, it's almost laughable. But, jokes aside, the main point is that sure, it is making a lot of money, and sure it had a great opening, but it also ran in way more theaters than most other documentaries (except Farenheit 9/11, which ran in almost twice as many theaters as Expelled). The argument is that is had a much lower dollar to screen ratio than the others in its class.
There is something that all the statisticians are not taking into account, though. I'm having a hard time finding research that backs this statement, but I'm pretty sure that city-dwellers watch more movies than those in rural areas. Also, we know that big cities lean WAY left of the political spectrum. So, when a left-wing political documentray opens in New York, L.A., Chicago, and a few other liberal hot beds, naturally the left-leanning, movie-going population is going to go see it at a higher rate (with a higher "dollar per to screen ratio"). On the other hand, to reach its base Expelled has had to show on far more screens. Liberalism breeds in big cities (particularly in poor districts, minority districts, and universities). Conservatism breeds in rural areas. Which are do you think has more theater screens per person?
Another thing that the left does not want to admit is that Micheal Moore and his fellow liberal movie makers get TONS of free marketing by the main stream media who, in general, agree with and want to propogate his values. How many times did you see Ben Stein on Larry King, Good Morning America, or even the nightly news? In the media business its called "earned publicity," or publicity that you didn't have pay for because the press wants to cover you. It's the huge disadtvantage that right-wingers have in everything from poltics, to movies, to education.
In the end, the left has to come up with huge logrhythms and calculations to portray Expelled as a failure. For the rest of us, we see it as the 6th highest grossing political documentray with the highest opening revenues. I'd call that a success.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
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6 comments:
Latest spin from the producers of Expelled -
“Expelled made history this weekend as it skyrocketed into place as the 13th highest grossing documentary film of all time. Since its release on April 18, the film has earned an astounding $6.6 million while only in its 3rd week in the box office.”
HEY MOM - WE’RE NUMBER 13 !, WE’RE NUMBER 13 !
Mark Mathis, Where are you going now that Expelled is finished?
“I’m going to Disneyland”
benjamin franklin - first of all, you have your blog set to private, so I'm left to imagine your perspective from the small, sarcastic comment you left. I imagine that perspective is similar to the condescending, closed-minded, elitist left-wingers Ben exposed in the film.
A few questions: First, did you even see the film?
Next, is 13th highest grossing documentary bad for one month? How long did it take most of the top 20 to make it there? I'm sure you have a big, long logrhythm that proves that Micheal Moore is God and Ben Stein is a peon, but I'm not interested in that. I"m interested in facts, and the facts are as follows:
Expelled has the highest opening revenues EVER for a political documentary. By far.
Expelled has broken the mold of ultra-liberal political documentaries used by University professors to further their political agenda in the classroom.
The academic world has shunned those who want to explore certain scientific possibilities, and it is doign the same thing now by trying snub the undeniable success of Expelled.
Sorry, dude
Expelled is a flop. The producers were projecting an opening weekend gross of $12 million, Box office to-date is approx $7.3 mill. After only 4 weeks, its down to showing on 200 screens & will probably vanish by next weekend, as average per theatre daily box office is down to only $70. The production company gets approx 55% of gross, so thats $4 million to the producers.
Distribution costs were very high, putting it into over 1,000 theatres, at a cost of $1,500 per print. Add in a very high ad budget, thought to be in the low single digit millions, and you have a net loss of $2 to $3 million. And thats before the potential liability of negative outcome of current litigation.
I plead guilty to being sarcastic, condescending and elitist, but usually not leftist, and definately not closed-minded.
I haven't seen any Michael Moore films, so I can't comment on them, but I did see Expelled.
It is a shoddy piece of propaganda that props up the failures of Intelligent Design by playing the victim card. It deceives its audiences, slanders the scientific community, and contributes mightily to a climate of hostility to science itself. It's producers are doing nothing less than helping turn a generation of American youth away from science. And Ben Stein isn't helping the cause by saying the uncharacteristically stupid things he has been uttering in interviews, such as
"Love of God and compassion and empathy leads you to a very glorious place. Science leads you to killing people."
How can anyone, conservative or liberal, justify that?
oops, forgot to put in that production costs were $3.5 million
I can respect the sarcasm. It's not out of bounds.
But make all the excuses you want, but it's still ranked where it is and it's still made the money it has. Sure, maybe they spent a lot of money on it. Sure, maybe it won't make the HUGE profit that the likes of Michael Moore does on his films. Sure, it's on a lot of screens.
But let me remind you that Michael Moore got TONS of free publicity that Ben Stein did not.
As far as being "contributing mightily to a climate that is hostile to science itself," that is not a bad thing ,that is a good thing. Science holds a sacred spot in western Society and no one is allowed to question what it deems "fact." I hope that more people create a climate that opens young minds to the idea of questioning the status quo in science. After all, as cliche as it sounds, Galileo questioned the status quo of science that was literally held on a religious pedestal. Why shouldn't we create a climate that encourages criticism of an area that is considered untouchable?
Sounds like you both have different views of what "success" is. "Conservative out of His Element" is defining success as breaking the mold, ranking among the most successful in its class, and acheiving the success that it did without the publicity that others may have had. "Bejamin Franklin" is defining success in cold hard numbers - cost vs profit, etc. In my mind, you're both right, considering your different definitions. I'll be deciding for myself once I see the movie.
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