“Atlas Shrugged” producer: I don’t know if we’ll make parts two and three now
“Critics, you won,” said John Aglialoro, the businessman who spent 18 years and more than $20 million of his own money to make, distribute and market “Atlas Shrugged: Part 1,” which covers the first third of Rand’s dystopian novel. “I’m having deep second thoughts on why I should do Part 2.”…
Aglialoro attributed the box office drop-off to “Atlas Shrugged’s” poor reviews. Only one major critic — Kyle Smith of the New York Post — gave “Atlas” a mixed-to-positive review, calling the film “more compelling than the average mass-produced studio item.” The movie has a dismal 7% fresh rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes thanks to critics like the Chicago Tribune’s Michael Phillips, who said “Atlas” is “crushingly ordinary in every way.” Roger Ebert called the film “the most anticlimactic non-event since Geraldo Rivera broke into Al Capone’s vault,” while Rolling Stone’s Peter Travers said the movie “sits there flapping on screen like a bludgeoned seal.”
“The New York Times gave us the most hateful review of all,” said Aglialoro, who also has a writing credit on the movie. “They didn’t cover it.”
Blowback
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What did you think of the film after you saw it?
hawkdriver on April 27, 2011 at 2:50 PM
Right—it was on 465 screens. By way of comparison, Rio (to name another recently movie, basically at random) was on over 3,800. There’s only so much we could expect here. If it had opened in more theaters right away, might it have done better? Maybe. But it’s not even playing in most places—and most of the places it is playing are probably those least hospitable to it.
I’m not arguing that the fate of the movie should be something other than what it is, but there are lots of variables here that I don’t see a lot of people considering.
WesternActor on April 27, 2011 at 2:51 PM
Major blockbusters routinely gross tens of millions on DVD/Blu-ray sales and rentals. But we’re talking movies that make half a billion(or more) worldwide at the box office.
Atlas Shrugged would be lucky to duplicate its box office numbers(which will be no more than 5 mil when all is said and done) on home video. In other words, it’ll make half of its 20 mil budget at best. I hate to use the term, but any other movie that performed this way would be labeled a bomb.
Doughboy on April 27, 2011 at 2:52 PM
For all that the book makes a number of good insights into leftist policies, he’s right: much of it is pretty juvenile.
Particularly the revenge fantasy that serves as the ending.
Count to 10 on April 27, 2011 at 2:52 PM
One area the liberals will beat us in almost every time. They shove their emotions into issues while Conservatives try to hard to be fair and pragmatic. I believe in the market. But my God, some of the Conservative commenters here actually sound smug that it’s not doing as well as we would have liked.
Go watch the movie. It was good. It wouldn’t be too late to prove the critics wrong.
hawkdriver on April 27, 2011 at 2:56 PM
I saw it and it was almost as good as Battlefield Earth.
mmnowakjr85 on April 27, 2011 at 2:57 PM
“too” hard…
hawkdriver on April 27, 2011 at 2:57 PM
I disagree. Movies like Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity opened on only a handful of screens, had huge per-screen averages, and ended up becoming $100+ million grossers when they eventually went wide.
Obviously those are horror movies and have wider appeal, but the key to their success was building a ton of buzz through the internet and festival screenings. So by the time they did reach those initial dozen or hundred theaters, everyone was in a rush to see what all the fuss was about.
Atlas Shrugged had the deck stacked against it. It’s a thinking person’s movie, not a summer blockbuster or horror flick. And it was only Part I of a proposed 3-part series. But personally I blame its failure on the way it was made and marketed, not on the product itself. They rushed it before cameras, they only filmed a third of the book, and then they dumped it into a few theaters with almost no ad campaign. What the hell did they expect?
Doughboy on April 27, 2011 at 3:00 PM
This. I’m stunned of at the unprofessionalism.
thebrokenrattle on April 27, 2011 at 3:03 PM
Did you see the movie?
hawkdriver on April 27, 2011 at 3:05 PM
The Blair Witch Project is not a good point of comparison. It was shown at Sundance and thus had momentum and time to generate buzz before it was even put into wider release. Atlas Shrugged did not have these advantages. It was trying to open cold and open small, which isn’t going to work if you also open without advertising. You’re definitely right about that part.
But Atlas Shrugged did pretty darn well its first weekend, all things considered—had just a few things happened differently, it might have had more of a chance. And the book isn’t completely closed on it yet, so things could still improve for it. I agree they don’t look good right now, though.
WesternActor on April 27, 2011 at 3:06 PM
Nope. All I had to do was see the poster and tell it was made on the fly. We deserve better.
thebrokenrattle on April 27, 2011 at 3:10 PM
Why not show Atlas Shrugged at some festivals then? Seriously, if the movie is better than the predominantly left-wing critics claim, then build some buzz for it before releasing it to the general public.
And while the per-screen average was ok, it needed to do way better given its budget. $20 million might be equivalent to what a major summer blockbuster spends on craft services, but for an independently-produced movie such as this, that’s actually a decent amount of cash.
Again, I hate to use the word, but this flick is looking like a bomb.
Doughboy on April 27, 2011 at 3:11 PM
hawkdriver,
take the dialogue in this scene…
Henry: “What are you doing with yourself these days?”
Phillip: “I’m working for Friends of Global Awareness.”
H: “I know them. What do you want?”
P: “Money, doesn’t everyone?
H: “Call my office first thing in the morning, I’ll authorize a hundred grand for you.”
P: “You really don’t care about helping the underprivileged, do you?”
H: “No Phillip, I don’t but it will make you happy.”
P: “It’s not for me Hank, its for the benefit of the less privileged…Do you think you could have the money wired to my account?”
H:”A wire, why?”
P:”The thing is, its a progressive group, they wouldn’t appreciate your name on a check.
H: “You’re kidding me”
P: “It would embarrass us to have you on the list of our contributors.”
The scene crawls along, the actors are reading bland dialogue in near-monotones without a hint of emotion or what its called…acting.
Not every critic of the film is a liberal or has not seen the movie and is basing their criticism off of other people’s reactions to the movie. Its a libertarian film. Does it succeed in having a libertarian message? Yes. Does it succeed in being a compelling film? No.
Raisedbywolves on April 27, 2011 at 3:24 PM
Maybe someone can do all three in Anime… not enthused about another incomplete series…did fox bankroll this, they seem to do that a lot.
rgranger on April 27, 2011 at 3:39 PM
I enjoyed the movie, as did my wife, who has never read the book. She remarked that the movie clarified the difference between rich people who were ‘producers’ and rich people who were ‘elite political class.’
fossten on April 27, 2011 at 4:00 PM
Who is your favorite character and why?
fossten on April 27, 2011 at 4:03 PM
You gotta do something to have to movie noticed.
It’s called MARKETING.
Did anybody see anything that would have gotten this movie noticed?
Get Lindsay Lohan to tattoo the title on her forehead.
She’d do it for a fifth of Grey Goose.
Stunts, hoopla, razzmatazz!
It’s called SHOW Biz!
Give out free Atlases on Hollywood Boulevard.
Have Shrugging contest on Broadway.
SOMETHING!
Anything!
profitsbeard on April 27, 2011 at 4:32 PM
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