How did a movie with a low budget. no stars, limit number of opening theaters, manage to succeed? by Raven West
(libertarian)
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Low budget. No stars. Stilted performances. Terrible script. Limit number of opening theaters. No advertising. Horrible reviews.
One would think with all the negative press surrounding Atlas Shrugged, The Movie - Part 1 that it would have disappeared from theater screens and gone direct to DVD the day after it was released.
Instead, a week after its premier in a scant 299 or so theaters, the movie not only expanded to just under 500 screens, but many of those sold out the moment the names of the theaters appeared on the movies website.
The success of Atlas Shrugged has turned every Hollywood formula on its head. How can a movie in this day and age generate such incredible box office when;
Its not in 3D - in fact the special effects arent all that special, Except for a mysterious man wearing a hat, there are no aliens, Except for the government sucking the blood out of industry, there are no vampires, Except for one not-very-graphic love making scene, there is no sex and no nudity, Except for quite a bit of social drinking, there were no drugs, no gangs and no violence.
So, if you take away every element that todays Hollywood is so eager to put into their tried and true formulas for success, how is it that Atlas Shrugged was able to, as Paul Bond wrote, Shock Hollywood's Marketing Machine?
The answer is quite simple:
Its the message, stupid.
The Hollywood Machine never got the memo that the message they have been constantly ramming down our throats, is choking us to death.
Money is the root of all evil.
This not the message Ayn Rand, nor her characters, nor the readers of the novel, nor the audience who flocked to the theaters, sometimes more than once, are buying.
The heroes in Atlas Shrugged are very rich leaders of major corporations, the very people who the main stream media have been doing their best to vilify, yet the audience cheered for them.
The government in Atlas Shrugged wants to use the wealth of the rich to help the less fortunate, and while the nain stream media covers protestors carrying signs that read Tax the Rich inside the theaters the audience cheers every time one of those wealthy men mysteriously disappear.
Why?
Because when all the political rhetoric blows away, Atlas Shrugged is a solid story about courage and commitment to ideals, even unpopular ones. Especially unpopular ones.
Atlas Shrugged is about not being afraid to stand up for what you believe in, even at the expense of everything you owned and worked for. Its about not letting the looters of society take away a piece of your soul and give it away simply for nothing more than what they call the greater good.
Atlas Shrugged is a work of fiction. The words which Ayn Rand put onto those more than a thousand pages spoke to, and continue to speak to millions who understand, applaud and believe in the virtue of selfishness.
They are also the millions who know the answer to the question Who is John Galt?
And why Hollywood's marketing machine never will.
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The views expressed
in this article are those of Raven West only and
do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates.
Raven West is solely responsible for the contents
of this article and is not an employee or otherwise affiliated
with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
