Atlas Shrugged Movie Leaves Hollywood Scratching Its Head, Because It's Succeeding Without Them
from the shrugged dept
We've already talked about how Kevin Smith has been succeeding with his new movie, Red State, by defying much of the "conventional wisdom," when it comes to how you have to market a Hollywood movie. He's not the only one. Apparently the "conventional wisdom" folks in Hollywood are all in shock that the movie Atlas Shrugged is doing fantastically well at the box office, despite its "awful marketing plan," of not buying TV ads.Smith has actually talked about this issue as well, discussing how the major studios "buy" an opening weekend gross number, knowing that if you just spend $x million on TV advertising, you can pretty much guarantee a certain level of turnout for a film. However, in many cases, it's really a waste of money, because the money spent on the TV advertising can actually outweigh the value of the people they bring to the theaters (Smith has a funny story about studios advertising some of his movies on Lifetime, the "women-focused" TV station, whose demographics don't match at all with Smith's standard audience).
In the case of Atlas Shrugged the filmmakers relied on Ayn Rand's fans to build the buzz and apparently it worked. Word of mouth on Twitter and via various "like-minded" groups -- including some libertarians and Tea Party folks -- apparently drove interest in the movie. It's making a lot of money per screen and there's demand that it open on a bunch more screens. The filmmakers are apparently mainly limited by the fact that they didn't make enough prints (no reason to, without knowing the real demand) and they're trying to rectify that as quickly as possible.
Of course, some will claim that this is a one-off situation. And, certainly, some elements are unique. The fan base for this kind of thing is... well... somewhat fanatical. I read the book years ago and thought it was... well... pretty bad. Thought provoking -- yes -- but the core ideas don't hold up to much scrutiny. But, I certainly know plenty of folks who are obsessive about the book, and are willing to promote it quite a bit. You can see it in the Rotten Tomatoes reviews. Only 7% of the critics liked the movie (I particularly liked Roger Ebert's review). Yet 85% of the user reviews liked it.
But that's the thing: it's not a movie for the reviewers. It's a movie for a specific audience, and it seems to have hit that audience head on. Once again, that's a similarity with what Smith is doing. He's made a movie for a specific audience, and he doesn't need to try to market to people outside of that audience, because it's just not worth it. And when you do that right -- find an audience, have a connection with them, and make a movie for them, it can be quite profitable.
Separately, it appears that the producers of Atlas Shrugged are employing some smart alternative business models too, rather than just relying on box office take:
Merchandise, he said, is helping the cause. When Aglialoro obtained rights to the movie almost 19 years ago, he also got rights to sell such items as T-shirts, mugs, posters and even jewelry, though not dolls, video games and other "interesting exceptions."So, while some will ignore both of these flicks and their success, claiming that they're "exceptions" to the rule, I think more observant folks may notice some key lessons that can be pulled from both:
On Tuesday, the Website atlasshruggedpart1.com was sold out of its most expensive item: a $159 bracelet made of "Rearden Metal," a replica of the one heroine Dagny Taggart (Taylor Schilling) wears in the film.
"The merchandise has taken off like we couldn't believe," he said. "We're shipping to every continent."
- create for a specific audience and target them where they are, rather than casting a wide (but super expensive) net.
- connect, connect, connect with that audience and let them help you spread the word
- offer alternative business models that let people support you at much higher price points ($159 bracelet for AS, $60+ tickets for a movie and Q+A for Smith)
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Filed Under: atlas shrugged, connecting, fans, hollywood, kevin smith, word of mouth
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The people behind this are geniuses.
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buying ads
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Per Theater
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per theater
In the next 2 or 3 weeks the film will be visiting many totally new cities. If the Atlas Shrugged movie was performing poorly, it would not have been held over at EVERY theater where it played last week in my town.
Also consider this. Virtually every review gives this movie one star OR LESS, because the "professional" reviewers trashed the movie in order to garner approval from their friends, peers and bosses. So the box office numbers they're getting are in the face of astronomical odds. Of course, people who are rabid advocates of elitism, statism, authoritarianism and totalitarianism are writing comments like yours in the millions, because they are soooooo afraid that the notion "live and let live" might catch on... and people who think like you might have to get a job someday, and be productive.
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Re: per theater
You mean like Ayn Rand?
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Re: Re: per theater
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Re: per theater
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Ebert's review
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Transforms 2 Syndrome
WHY? : Because I was the target audience. I grew up with Transformers toys, I know that Starscream's original toy was a Veritech repainted, I had an original Optimus Prime, etc.
OHH.. And there were giant robots (that I had known since childhood) fighting on a giant screen... GIANT ROBOTS I TELL YOU , lol
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Re: Transforms 2 Syndrome
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Re: Transforms 2 Syndrome
> I grew up with Transformers toys, I know
> that Starscream's original toy was a Veritech
> repainted, I had an original Optimus Prime, etc.
No.Starscream was not a repainted Valkyrie.
The rebadged Veritech was actually an autobot and not a decepticon. Starscream was a much more poorly done F-15 vs the F-14 that the Valkyrie.
Jetfire was notable because it was actually a competently done transformer (which the others were not).
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Phase 2: Is no longer ?
Phase 3: Profit
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I may not always be libertarian but...
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The lesson I take? For movie success, play to a religion, or a really rigid philosophy which has all the answers, just like a religion. (If you want to lump Michael Moore in with that, I won't debate it.)
Not exactly a model for a wide-ranging artistic universe.
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This film was going to be successful (albeit on a relatively small scale) no matter what. It's an interesting look at an alternate promotion model, but it's really not something you can generalise to most other things.
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This ain't rocket science
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Two topics to discuss here...
2 - The ideas behind the film (libertarian/free market vs. central planning/government-industrial complex)
Here is a short Youtube video that shows why many people are interested in the movie. Maybe not a majority, maybe not even a plurality, but a lot. Whether you agree with them or not, this is what they think is going on. You may consider them idiots, moron, or just the uneducated masses, but that won't change the way they view things.
Let the flame wars begin!!!
:D
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There is nothing in the world - no review, no critic comments that will keep me away from a movie more than being DELUGED with commercials about it.
I feel as though I've seen 2/3 hours of it already and.. no just won't go to it. I hate over-hype and any movie that just spams the commercials is definitely over-hyped.
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Quality is irrelevant, and only hype matters? Well, I guess that's why Hollywood and Apple still make money...
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Re: Re: per theater (@17)
A superficial reading of her works (or, more likely, a superficial reading of a superficial review of her works) can give this impression, but not really. While she does spend more time in Atlas glorifying aristocracy than I'd like, the overall philosophical point is that the ideas presented are available to everyone and beneficial for everyone.
Her anti-elitism comes across more strongly in The Fountainhead, which is essentially about a proletarian architect trying to succeed despite the negative influence of an elite that attacks his work because it doesn't conform to tradition.
She's definitely pro-merit, but most of the time she's anti-status. (Not always though: for an author who was so obsessed with 'non-contradiction,' she does contradict herself fairly frequently.)
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Atlas Shrugged frightens the Takers
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Re: Atlas Shrugged frightens the Takers
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Re: Re: Atlas Shrugged frightens the Takers
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Re: Atlas Shrugged frightens the Takers
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Re: Atlas Shrugged frightens the Takers
"No one else has a right to limit your ideas and your pursuit of happiness, as long as you live and let live and respect others--judging them on their merits and achievements." What a laugh riot that is. Ken Lay, Bernie Madoff - two classic cases of success and happiness. Here's a flash: excessive money and power corrupts *everybody*.
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Re: Re: Atlas Shrugged frightens the Takers
first, the respecting others part of that ideal is not an option, its a requirement. you can toss out all sorts of people that did some pretty bad things causing others a lot of grief, but they arent exactly following the second part of the ideal are they? no, they're not. so you can hardly hold them up as any example of what the outcome of following the ideals are. (same with just about any corporation these days sadly).
secondly, its an ideal. as a society we strive to meet the ideals we have constructed. we do not always hit those goals but that does not make the ideals themselves bad.
as a strict ideal, rand is right and i agree 100%. the problem is that the ideal is ... well, just that. an ideal. it does not take human nature into account. much in the same way that nearly all ideals of what a perfect society no matter what version... and that is why they are impossible to reach.
and yet with that... it in no way means that we should not try.
but hey..thats just my opinion
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I can't believe they actually made a movie out of that screed!
I will not waste any of my fairly short time left on this planet viewing this film. These days, Ayn Rand's writings have as much interest to me as the screeching of any other polemicist from the other side of the political spectrum, such as Karl Marx. It does not surprise me that most of the rabid Randians I actually know formulated their views at a very early age, and never felt the need to re-assess their validity again. I think "arrested development" would be a legitimate assessment of their personalities, in most cases.
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Anti-Rand lefties tremble with fear
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Re: Anti-Rand lefties tremble with fear
Zinov’yevna called her philosophy Objectivism, her choice of words, a more accurate description would be Greedism. Greedism has been tried throughout history and it always ends in a bloody revolution. The idea that the ungodly greedy should be entitled to all the wealth so they could let it trickle down to the rest of the population is absurd. Zinov’yevna thought herself some kind of god and Americans and dirty smelly slaves who were placed on earth to do her bidding.
_____________________________________________________________________________________The woman in Roomette 10, Car No. 3, was an elderly school teacher who had spent her life turning class after class of helpless miserable children into miserable cowards, by teaching that the will of the majority is the only standard of good or evil…..
Zinov’yevna from her book “Atlas Shrugged”
Imagine a country where the majority rules and governs itself, Zinov’yevna couldn’t Russia wasn’t like that. If not majority rule, than what? The rule of the ungodly greedy was Zinov’yevna answer. The dollar sign was the symbol of Zinov’yevna Greed Utopia.
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You make a valid point for anti-Randians.
A key point of Rand's philosophy was that guilt was an invalid emotion, and that anyone who felt it was a fool. Life is too short to debate or discuss this shit, so I won't waste one more second on it.
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Re: You make a valid point for anti-Randians.
The simplest answer? It started 4000odd years ago. Being self aware.
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Movie
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Re: Movie
I will grant you there is an economic pie to split; even our most primitive ancestors had an economic pie to split. Money is nothing more than economic shorthand. When ancient tribes banded together to hunt the hunt was divided among all the tribe. The chief may have got the biggest piece but he certainly didn’t get 99% of the hunt while the other 99% of the tribe divided 1% of the hunt among themselves. Why because the meat would have rotted. But money is just a short hand symbol and the ungodly greedy can indeed take 99% of a country wealth. There is no case in history where the ungodly managed to meet their goal of 100% of the wealth because when they get 99% percent of a country wealth, at this point the other 99% of the people are starving to death, then the ungodly greedy are slaughtered like the psychotic pigs they are. There are even documented cases in history where the psychotic pigs were killed put on spits and roasted over an open fire and fed to their wives. The ungodly greedy can never understand why they are not entitled to all the wealth after all according to Zinov’yevna, the other 99% of people are just “helpless and at the mercy of the wind.”
Greedism is nothing new, it is as old as money, we know from history Greedism ultimately concludes in a bloody revolution. The psychotics are killed and the system starts over. The mathematical equation is that 5% of the people have 99% of the wealth, and that the other 95% of the people divide the remaining 5% of the wealth but the psychotic ungodly greedy are never satisfied with 95% of wealth they want it all. If the other 95% of the people try to take even 1% of the ungodly greedy 95% of the wealth, the ungodly greedy will fight to the death. But the ungodly greedy can take up to another 4% of the other 95% of the people wealth and they will not fight until the ungodly greedy try to take that last 1% when their families are starving to death. That is the vanishing point for the ungodly greedy psychotics and their families. Greed is a cancer on the body of man and sooner or later the sickness has to be cut out.
Neuroscientists now have a test to measure the psychotic personality. We all know Ted Bundy was a psychopath, who killed women, beheaded them, and raped them in that order. But that is only one expression of a psychopathic personality. Psychopaths can express their personalities in different ways, we would all not chose the same form of recreation, and psychopaths do not express their psychotic tendencies the same way. Ann Rule worked with Ted Bundy at a Contact phone service; she thought he was normal in every way. From interviews with Bill Gates neuroscientists have speculated he would score high on the psychopath’s test, instead of killing women, he kills other companies. We all know deep down that greed is a sign of a sick mind but like Ann Rule, most of us have no idea how sick these people really are.
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Re: Movie
I will grant you there is an economic pie to split; even our most primitive ancestors had an economic pie to split. Money is nothing more than economic shorthand. When ancient tribes banded together to hunt the hunt was divided among all the tribe. The chief may have got the biggest piece but he certainly didn’t get 99% of the hunt while the other 99% of the tribe divided 1% of the hunt among themselves. Why because the meat would have rotted. But money is just a short hand symbol and the ungodly greedy can indeed take 99% of a country wealth. There is no case in history where the ungodly managed to meet their goal of 100% of the wealth because when they get 99% percent of a country wealth, at this point the other 99% of the people are starving to death, then the ungodly greedy are slaughtered like the psychotic pigs they are. There are even documented cases in history where the psychotic pigs were killed put on spits and roasted over an open fire and fed to their wives. The ungodly greedy can never understand why they are not entitled to all the wealth after all according to Zinov’yevna, the other 99% of people are just “helpless and at the mercy of the wind.”
Greedism is nothing new, it is as old as money, we know from history Greedism ultimately concludes in a bloody revolution. The psychotics are killed and the system starts over. The mathematical equation is that 5% of the people have 99% of the wealth, and that the other 95% of the people divide the remaining 5% of the wealth but the psychotic ungodly greedy are never satisfied with 95% of wealth they want it all. If the other 95% of the people try to take even 1% of the ungodly greedy 95% of the wealth, the ungodly greedy will fight to the death. But the ungodly greedy can take up to another 4% of the other 95% of the people wealth and they will not fight until the ungodly greedy try to take that last 1% when their families are starving to death. That is the vanishing point for the ungodly greedy psychotics and their families. Greed is a cancer on the body of man and sooner or later the sickness has to be cut out.
Neuroscientists now have a test to measure the psychotic personality. We all know Ted Bundy was a psychopath, who killed women, beheaded them, and raped them in that order. But that is only one expression of a psychopathic personality. Psychopaths can express their personalities in different ways, we would all not chose the same form of recreation, and psychopaths do not express their psychotic tendencies the same way. Ann Rule worked with Ted Bundy at a Contact phone service; she thought he was normal in every way. From interviews with Bill Gates neuroscientists have speculated he would score high on the psychopath’s test, instead of killing women, he kills other companies. We all know deep down that greed is a sign of a sick mind but like Ann Rule, most of us have no idea how sick these people really are.
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Movie
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Re: Movie
Wrong. There's a pie to create. The size of the pie depends in a large part on how motivated people are to create that pie.
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Time to build buzz
Same thing with Rand. A lot of people will think "Atlas Shrugged" is garbage, but enough have been imprinted that it will do well. The beloved books of our childhood do well - even the awful ones.
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death spiral
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Success?
Other than that, I have no interest in paying to see this film on the big screen.
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Re: Success?
When a moive is branded the "worst movie of the century" by the critics, that should tell you something. Not just any movie can be considered the "worst movie of the century" you have some really bad movies to beat but the verdict is in an "Atlas Shrugged" won hands down.
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That's not a success,guys...
Niche movies with dedicated core audiences will always post good per-screen numbers at release. If they're good movies, they'll keep going as the public realizes they're worth seeing. If they're not good movies, they sputter and die.
Looks like The Market is not too fond of Ayn Rand.
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Do tea party members read?
Didn't they notice how she argues against communitarianism, which for her included socialism as well as religion, because in both cases the individual's rights and property can be sacrificed for a "greater" good, i.e. Society or God.
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Re: Do tea party members read?
Of course they read, they read their bibles, but nobody ever accused a Pee Party members of understanding it, that's why differen churches splinter into smaller and smaller churches. It use to be there was a gas station on every corner now there is a church on every corner declaring which ever democrats is running for president is the anti-christ. The frightening part is that so many actually believe it. But these same people have no trouble hitching their cart to a Russian atheist named Alisa Zinov'yenva Rosenbaum. Ayn Rand is just an alias she hid behind. I know if I was a Christian I would chose an atheist to be my role model.
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Re:
It's pretty typical that week 2 is about half of week 1. Don't judge overall success by box office alone. The point was never that it could keep up the box office rate -- no movie does that. But that it achieved as much as it did with no real "traditional advertising."
The numbers it got at the box office make it pretty clear that the film will reach profitability without too much trouble. This is the kind of film that will have plenty of life in DVD/VOD etc.
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Re: Re:
Don't kid yourself. "Atlass Shrugged" got more free publicity than any movie in history. It was plugged day after day on the commie/conservative radio network. The free air time would have cost at least $20 million. The fact that it was air time instead of commerical time which most listeners tune out makes it even more valuable. From the Rush Slimbaugh show to the local red neck right talk shows the publicity was non stop. Just the drug addict Rush Slimbaugh has million of automatrons that purchase anything he pluggs.
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More on it not doing so well
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Re: More on it not doing so well
This businessman had to rent the theaters for this travisty to be shown in others words he spent $10 million to rent the theaters and recovered only a small fraction of his theater rental. He had to tie a $10 million dollar porck chop around this movie neck to even get it shown in theaters. No wonder he is not making part II and part III.
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No publicty? Who is Kidding Who?
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Atlas Shrugged Part 1's Theatrical Run
There was plenty of good audience word of mouth for the movie and I don't think I've seen a better Internet marketing plan for an indie film, but the "A" from "P&A" was never provided. No paid advertising whatsoever as far as I can tell.
I think this was either a mistake or the distribution was underfunded, because if TV and radio ads had been rolled out in time for the second weekend when it was expanding theaters, I think it could have done a lot better despite critics' hostility.
A quick roll out of the DVD/Blu-Ray with some decent advertising might give it enough legs to make it worth while to do the next two parts. A success on Part II could turn the trilogy around profitwise.
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Atlas Shrugged
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