Jimmy Carter Movie Bombs at Box Office

[Greyskye]

I open up my browser to check my email, and this headline caught my eye. :wtf: I say to myself, I hadn't heard about any Jimmy Carter movies coming out.

So I click through to the story, and this is what I see.

Another :wtf: moment, and I click back to make sure I didn't hit the wrong URL by mistake. Nope, that is what I clicked on. I skim through the article, and don't see anything about Carter. OK, search for 'Carter'. Wait, here it is! Buried at the very, very, end:

A high-profile documentary, Sony Pictures Classics' "Jimmy Carter: Man From Plains," had a poor debut, taking in just $10,573 at seven theaters. The film from director Jonathan Demme ("The Silence of the Lambs") follows the former president during a tour to promote his book "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid."

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "Saw IV," $32.1 million.

2. "Dan in Real Life," $12.1 million.

3. "30 Days of Night," $6.7 million.

4. "The Game Plan," $6.3 million.

5. "Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married?", $5.7 million.

6. "Michael Clayton," $5 million.

7. "Gone Baby Gone," $3.9 million.

8. "The Comebacks," $3.45 million.

9. "We Own the Night," $3.4 million.

10. "Tim Burton's the Nightmare Before Christmas," $3.35 million.


(emphasis mine)

:wow: Seven whole theaters? For a "high-profile" movie? That has had NO exposure or advertising that I've seen? Yep, that certainly qualifies for a front page headline screaming that a Jimmy Carter movie has bombed the box office. :sarcasm: Darn that pesky liberal media anyway!

[glowing]

1. I think a lot of people would have gone to see the movie... Its following

an former President. Look how many saw Al's movie because Al drew them to the cause. 7 theaters.. is that even fair to call it a debut. I guess I'll be looking for it at blockbuster.

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. My movie bombed at the box office too, it didn't play anywhere.

[Iris]

3. Yeah, I love the apples to oranges comparison and then the use of that comparison

to indicate that a belief system is invalid.

[LunaSea]

4. A little marketing coulda fixed that

It's all in the title, say they called it

CARTERPOCALYSE!
(In Sensurround)

PLAINS, GEORGIA DRIFTER

SOULHEALER (ina creepy font)

THE PEACEMASTER
(no one admitted during the last 10 minutes!)


You get the idea.

[MonkeyFunk]

5. What makes it a "bomb"

is not it's total revenue - it's the per-screen revenue. In this case, a very low $1,514 per screen.

For comparison, another documentary, "My Kid Could Paint That" which has already been out for over 3 weeks, took in twice as much per screen.

"Sicko" took in over $23,000 on its first day - on one screen.

So yeah, $1,514 per screen is pretty bad.

[Cha]

6. So, we know fucking cnn is a faux wannabe...

can they get fit anymore bushit propoganda in their lineup?

[krispos42]

7. There's a Jimmy Carter movie out?

Musta missed the promos...

[Basileus Basileon]

8. $10,000 at seven theatres isn't very good at all.

Many art-house films launch low-key, with intentional scarcity and only targeted advertisement, hoping to build word-of-mouth buzz among the literati. That is a very poor opening for a movie intending to do that. I would feel confident saying that it was a disappointment, though "bomb" usually implies a financial disaster.

[terrya]

9. Jesus, it just opened!

How can it be a bomb on an opening weekend???

This also discounts dvd sales.

[Bicoastal]

10. Well, the reviews I read weren't brilliant...

...and that plus negative word-of-mouth might have killed it.

But jeez, remember, this is just a movie about Carter, not a referendum on the man himself!