Posted on 06/28/2004 7:08:38 PM PDT by Impeach98
Mickey Mouse battles Michael Moore
Tuesday 29 June 2004, 4:26 Makka Time, 1:26 GMT
America's Heart and Soul will be released on Friday
Walt Disney Corp. may come to the rescue of a Michael Moore beleaguered-President Bush by unveiling its own patriotic documentary film.
The company that last month refused to release the politically explosive Fahrenheit 9/11 now plans to release the film America's Heart and Soul on Friday.
Supporters say the new film could counter-balance Michael Moore's hit film that has already taken over $23 million at the box office.
"This unusual [Disney] film was inspirational," said Howard Kaloogian, chairman of Move America Forward , which has spearheaded a boycotting campaign of Fahrenheit 9/11 after attending a special screening of the film on Monday.
"It was an amazing set of vignettes of stories of different Americans and their pursuit of passion. Each individual was able to explore their passion because of the freedom this country has given us."
Warm war
While America's Heart and Soul may leave audiences feeling "warm and proud," Moore's was a fallacious political attack on US President George Bush aimed at destroying American confidence in the war against terror and defeating Bush at November's polls, Kaloogian said.
"I don't think you can position the two films against each other because Heart and Soul is apolitical, but you come out of it with a very different feeling about America than when you leave Moore's film."
With its patriotic undertones and emphasis on the goodness of Americans, the film contrasts with Michael Moore's documentary that accused the Bush administration of waging an unjustified war in Iraq and revealing alleged links between the Bush family and that of Usama bin Ladin.
But Disney executives said that the release of the new film on Friday - a week after the release of "Fahrenheit" - was simply co-incidental.
"Releasing the film now "had nothing to do with Fahrenheit 9/11 and there is no link at all between the two movies," said one Disney executive.
Mouse goes political
Disney in May declined to release Moore's film - produced by its Miramax unit - because of its divisive political nature, and sold the rights to the film back to a production company owned by Miramax bosses Harvey and Bob Weinstein.
After battling to find a distribution company, the movie was finally picked up by Lion's Gate Entertainment which released it to record box office returns on Friday.
The film took $23.9 million in North America, more than any other documentary in history, and eclipsed the revenues of two major new Hollywood movie released last weekend.
AFP
Movie info is here:
http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/heartandsoul/flash.html
Ya know, in the stock market or gambling, this is what would be called a "spread position". In a volatile market, rather than risk in one direction or the other; spread the risk in both directions. Disney goes leftie with Miramax, and then releases this right-of-center flic to redeem the abused image of Mickey Mouse.
Hopefully, the patriotic version does well in the box office, and if for no other reason than sheer greed, the leadership at Disney decides it's better to be pleasing the stockholders instead of pleasing the ACLU and the DNC.
The photographic images are breathtaking. Looking forward to seeing it. Music reminds me of Bonanza, in a way. Daughter was watching reruns of Bonanza last weekend. I was struck with the highly moral messages and character education so omnipresent in the show. Worth re-watching. Seems like this movie will be in that category, too.
Problem is...no hype for this and not enough theaters playing it.
and no time to hype it
Exactly! Unfortunately, this is literally the first time I've heard of this movie. This obviously hasn't had the fanatic-fare of MM's movie. Not only is Disney covering its ass-ets...I also wouldn't put it past the powers that be to make "sales" comparisons if this movie doesn't fare well so they can predict the pulse of America.
Is it too embarassing to actually spell out that those two Hollywood epics were "Dodgeball" and "White Chicks"?
I wonder if Disney didn't do this special screening with Move America Forward today precisely for this reason - to get people talking about a pro-America alternative to Moore's wretched "Bash America" propaganda.
There are so many different stories featured, but the message is all about pursuit of what you have passion for, and that America is the place where you can do it.
The values of family, faith and perseverance are showcased repeatedly. But, most importantly, the movie is engaging and entertaining.
I think almost all FReepers will fall in love with the movie. It's a must see!
It is at least playing in two of the four KS theaters that have Michael Moore's film.
Maybe we should spread the word?
I wonder why it is rated PG (must be language)?
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