F 9/11 box office--

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Seth Grimes <grimes () altaplana com>
Date: June 27, 2004 8:37:47 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: F 9/11 box office--

An FEC ban is the best thing that could happen to Fahrenheit 9/11 which 
is
doing quite well --


From today's Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9212-2004Jun27.html

'Fahrenheit 9/11' Tops $8M in First Day

By David German
The Associated Press
Sunday, June 27, 2004; 4:23 AM

LOS ANGELES - "Fahrenheit 9/11," Michael Moore's assault on President 
Bush,
took in $8.2 million to $8.4 million in its first day, positioning it 
as the
weekend's No. 1 film, its distributors said Saturday.

Based on Friday's numbers, "Fahrenheit 9/11" was on track for an opening
weekend that would surpass the $21.6 million total gross of Moore's 
"Bowling
for Columbine," his 2002 film that earned him an Academy Award for best
documentary.

"Bowling for Columbine" holds the record for highest domestic gross 
among
documentaries, excluding concert films and movies made for huge-screen 
IMAX
theaters.

Friday grosses for "Fahrenheit 9/11" ran about $1.5 million ahead of its
closest competitor, the Wayans brothers comedy "White Chicks." The
performance of "Fahrenheit 9/11" was even more remarkable considering it
played in just 868 theaters, fewer than a third the number for "White
Chicks."

"Fahrenheit 9/11" benefited from a flurry of praise and condemnation.
Supporters mobilized liberal-minded audiences to see it over opening 
weekend
to counter efforts by some right-wing groups to discredit the film.

"It always helps when there's a group out there that says, 'Don't go see
this movie. It's bad for you,'" said Jonathan Sehring, president of IFC
Films, one of the film's distributors.

"Fahrenheit 9/11" paints Bush as a neglectful president who ignored
terrorism warnings before Sept. 11, then stirred up fear of more 
attacks to
win public support for the Iraq war. The movie won the top honor at the
Cannes Film Festival in May.

The film has ridden a wave of publicity since just before Cannes, when 
Moore
began assailing Disney for refusing to let subsidiary Miramax release
"Fahrenheit 9/11" because of its political content.

Miramax bosses Harvey and Bob Weinstein bought back the film and hooked 
up
with Lions Gate Films and IFC to distribute it.

The fury over "Fahrenheit 9/11" resembled the firestorm created by Mel
Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ," which rose to blockbuster status 
amid
debate over whether it was anti-Semitic.

"It's like how 'The Passion of the Christ' redefined what a certain 
genre of
movie could do at the box office, 'Fahrenheit 9/11' is doing the same
thing," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker 
Exhibitor
Relations. "This blows away any conceivable record for box office of a
documentary."

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