Box Office: 'Atlas Shrugged' collapses, even without a NY Times review

NY POST ^ | April 26, 2011 | Lou Lumenick

[Beaten Valve]

My esteemed colleague Kyle Smith may not qualify as a box-office Nostradamus ("I smell a hit,'' he once wrote of "An American Carol'') but he was certainly on the mark in predicting that "Atlas Shrugged -- Part One'' would flop in his Sunday column a couple of weeks ago.

After a middling performance during its opening weekend that was hyped in some quarters (i.e., The Hollywood Reporter), the per-screen average for this amateurish Ayn Rand adaptation (even Kyle could only muster 2.5 stars' worth of enthusiam for the movie, though he liked its message) plunged to an alarming $1,890 from $5,640 during its opening frame. Overall, the weekend's take was a scant $879,000 -- a whopping 48 percent drop despite adding 166 locations. Which certainly suggest they're running out of audience quick.

That means that at some locations, distributor Rocky Mountain Pictures will be writing checks to theaters to cover the difference between receipts and operating expenses. The only way they're likely to get the 1,000 screens the producers say they want next weekend is to rent them. And, as Kyle put it at his personal blog, "Whether the sequels get made is purely a matter of how much desire the producers have for losing money.''

Surely rubbing salt in the producers' wounds is the performance of Robert Redford's left-leaning "The Conspirator,'' which also added screens in its second weekend and managed a decent hold and a $2,696 per location average. Its current cumulative gross is $6.9 million vs. a hair over $3 million for "Atlas Shrugged.''

(snip)

[Still Thinking]

Sheesh, my post was meant very lightly. Take a pill. I had no idea you were taking your original post so seriously. I’m sorry what I said was offensive to you. Yes, of course I read your entire post.

[I see my hands]

Of course it's bad news. We are here.. this is statism. Everywhere one turns. Open the peepers.

Galt didn't produce a movie, he destroyed society. Objectivists should not be banking on dreams.

[stylin_geek]

Ah, okay, gotcha.

Sorry for the misunderstanding.

I’ve had more than my share of people who went out of their way to be unpleasant today.

I took it as more of the same.

[Night Hides Not]

That’s great. You should try her other books.

I'm reading The Fountainhead now. That's the beauty of taking the bus every day. I'm saving the environment and working my mind.

The money I'm saving on my commute (my employer pays for the transit card) is being set aside for a small lot in Galt's Gulch, CO.

[Still Thinking]

Oh, OK. No problem. Please accept this coupon for happy FReeping for the rest of the day. My you not run into any more obnoxious Freepers today!

I just read your post and thought “Yeah, but that was a James Taggart line. I probably would have contempt for the actor who COULD deliver it convincingly. But just let me at the Francisco lines!”

[DWC]

Next read “we the living.”

[BillyBoy]

>> That is an interesting question. If you went Galt, would you want to go for a picture about going Galt? <<

Atlas Shrugged is in theaters, and the Randroids say everyone must see it.

Billyboy shrugged.

[BillyBoy]

One Randroid I talked to compared this film to Mel Gibson's “The Passion” with its “masterful marketing stroked to shrewdly target the conservative groups and wildly exceed expectations”.

Hmmm.

Atlas Shrugged: Grossed $1,676,917 opening weekend, finishing in 14th place overall.

The Passion: Grossed $83,848,082 opening weekend, finishing in 1st place overall.

[SpaceBar]

Galt ... destroyed society.

Have you actually read the book?

[I see my hands]

Several times.

Now begin your BS rant with impunity. I won't respond.

[LiteKeeper]

I saw. I liked it. I bought the book on the way home. And the acting wasn’t bad!

[Sea Parrot]

“Every era has a currency that buys souls. In some the currency is pride, in others it is hope, in still others it is a holy cause. There are of course times when hard cash will buy souls, and the remarkable thing is that such times are marked by civility, tolerance, and the smooth working of everyday life.”...Eric Hoffer

[Publius]

FReeper Book Club: Introduction to Atlas Shrugged
Part I, Chapter I: The Theme
Part I, Chapter II: The Chain
Part I, Chapter III: The Top and the Bottom
Part I, Chapter IV: The Immovable Movers
Part I, Chapter V: The Climax of the d’Anconias
Part I, Chapter VI: The Non-Commercial
Part I, Chapter VII: The Exploiters and the Exploited
Part I, Chapter VIII: The John Galt Line
Part I, Chapter IX: The Sacred and the Profane
Part I, Chapter X: Wyatt’s Torch
Part II, Chapter I: The Man Who Belonged on Earth
Part II, Chapter II: The Aristocracy of Pull
Part II, Chapter III: White Blackmail
Part II, Chapter IV: The Sanction of the Victim
Part II, Chapter V: Account Overdrawn
Part II, Chapter VI: Miracle Metal
Part II, Chapter VII: The Moratorium on Brains
Part II, Chapter VIII: By Our Love
Part II, Chapter IX: The Face Without Pain or Fear or Guilt
Part II, Chapter X: The Sign of the Dollar
Part III, Chapter I: Atlantis
Part III, Chapter II: The Utopia of Greed
Part III, Chapter III: Anti-Greed
Part III, Chapter IV: Anti-Life
Part III, Chapter V: Their Brothers’ Keepers
Part III, Chapter VI: The Concerto of Deliverance
Part III, Chapter VII: “This is John Galt Speaking”
Part III, Chapter VIII: The Egoist
Part III, Chapter IX: The Generator
Part III, Chapter X: In the Name of the Best Within Us
Coda: Ten Years After
Afterword and Suggested Reading

[LiteKeeper]

Playing in two theaters in Colorado Springs...Tinseltown and Chapel Hills Mall. That’s not 200 miles from Pueblo, is it?

[LiteKeeper]

But, it was Easter weekend...all the theaters took a hit. Check it out this weekend!

[Paperdoll]

You went to a lot of trouble. What is your point?

[Publius]

You said you were reading the book. Billthedrill and I have some book club threads to aid comprehension.

[Lurking Libertarian]

This was, is, but may not always be, God’s own country. Our system was devised d by and for Christians. “New Thought” is removing God from every area of public life. Christians are ridiculed without criticism! Our President declares that we are no longer a Christian nation! But this is still a Christian nation! Perhaps God is withdrawing His grace because the people are turning from Him. They are listening to the “New Thought”. “New Thought” is not new. Satan has been promoting it since time began. Ie: good is bad, bad is good! Do yourselves a favor. Buy a copy of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, and see for yourselves if you want your world to emulate hers. before it is too late!

Whatever Ayn Rand was, she was no Christian. Atlas Shrugged (the book; I haven't seen the movie) was quite explicitly anti-Christian.

[Stat-boy]

“I haven’t seen the movie just out, but I am currently re-reading “Atlas Shrugged”. It is very depressing because I see so much of the condition and political dominance written in the book around me more and more every day. Especially the placing of the blame and hatred upon successful and productive business being the fault for the disintegration of our amazing country of opportunity to raise one’s standard of living due to ambition, and hard work. There are too many who have become dependent upon the government for their daily bread, which I find appalling! How can one hold one’s head up when they are nothing but a parasite? If we allow all the “New Thought” (Communism) to prevail, we will not!”

Very well said. I do not read Ayn Rand for her thoughts on Christ or religion—I read it for her exposition of socialism, which is timeless (much like Jefferson’s writings).

[SpaceBar]

Now begin your BS rant with impunity. I won't respond.

Great. You have inferior reading comprehension, and you're one of freerepublic's biggest retards.