Anthony Kaufman
Speakeasy
The Wall Street Journal
4/17/2011
Did conservatives make “Atlas Shrugged – Part 1,” a low-budget adaptation of Ayn Rand’s famous 1957 novel, a box office hit? While the film’s opening weekend sales didn’t reach blockbuster levels, earning $1.7 million from about 300 theaters, the film’s backers are enthusiastic about the results.
“We’re at the upper edge of our expectations,” said “Shrugged” producer Harmon Kaslow. “And we’re a way above what the industry expected us to do.”
Independently produced and distributed, “Atlas Shrugged” had a fairly solid per-theater average of $5,590, in line with the weekend’s other indie success, “The Conspirator,” a historical drama about the trial of Abraham Lincoln’s assassins, which earned a similar $5,550 per-venue average across 700 theaters.
According to Kaslow, the film over-performed in some markets – including Atlanta, New York, Nashville, and Portland – generating as much as $12,000 to $25,000 per theater. The film did not do as well in some locales, such as Pensacola, Fla., and Mobile, Ala.
Working with distributor Rocky Mountain Pictures, which is known for its Christian-targeted releases, Kaslow hopes next weekend to increase the film’s reach from 300 to 1,000 theaters, and from its current 80 cities to around 250, which would include smaller towns in Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Montana…
The article continues at The Wall Street Journal.
Update: At HotAir.com, Atlas is Shrugging Already
In my review of the film Atlas Shrugged earlier today, I noted that Barack Obama’s latest policy address would fit perfectly into the story — as an example of the clueless and malevolent mercantilism depicted in both Ayn Rand’s novel and the film’s first installment. Turns out that our friends at FreedomWorks were way ahead of me on this point. Thursday, they released a mash-up video that did what the filmmakers deliberately chose not to do, which is to cast President Obama in a lead role by using his own words — and make the connection even more clear…
Go to HotAir.com to watch the video
