06-14-2003, 12:07 AM
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So Fucking Banned
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Backseat of a Ford Escort Hatchback
Posts: 3,253
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This is interesting:
Quote:
I'll start off by saying I live in LA and work in the biz. Not a big Hollywood player or anything, just crew. After seeing the trailer for this film, I thought it certainly had Blockbuster written all over it. Then I found out it's released in only 300 theaters and then it's gone in 3 weeks.
So I start talking to fellow employees about this, and not really having any answers they start asking around too. Well, finally word comes back to me that originally, this movie was scheduled for a Spring or Summer release in 2,000 theaters! Which is the norm (more or less) for a blockbuster flick. I beleive ones like Godzilla pushed for 4,000. The reason it didn't, was because of its "anti-government" content. Apparently, a publicist in the Bush administration thought this movie might plant the seed of "anti-government" feelings in the public's mind if it had a wide commercial release, which would not sit well for them in trying to gain support for war.
I've told a few friends about this, and some don't buy it. Not coincidentally, the ones that want to beleive it are more "Democratic", the ones that don't are more "Republican".
Political preferences aside, I don't doubt my sources. I've also worked enough to know this isn't improbable in this industry. The power of a publicist is incredible. They manage to "kill" most stories that might make their client less marketable (from their sexual orientation to embarassing moments in public or private). And to anyone on the set, they can clearly see these character flaws, but without a major media outlet, the most press it can ever acheive is the tabloids. I'm not saying they're all complete jerks, but for e.g., it was well known for years that Arnold Schwarzaneggar was a womanizer. But given his power status in Hollywood, his publicist managed to keep these events out of the press. Finally after making crap movies for 10 years, it started getting some attention in a few mainstreem magazines (and even then it was kept to a minimum). And when you consider things like:
-Late Night hosts weren't allowed to tell Bush jokes for awhile after 9/11
-Bill Maher got kicked off the air for criticizing US foreign policy a little too soon
-Studios tried to force Pete Jackson to change the title of LOTR: The Two Towers (because of the World Trade Center)
-The History Channel has been airing Anti-Iraq programs everyday now
it's quite conceivable they canned this movie for public approval. It just annoys the hell outta me that one sensitive suit has deprived us from some harmless entertainment. Our government officials should just do their jobs and keep their noses outta the entertainment industry (are you listening Tipper Gore?). Sheesh.
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http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0238380/board/nest/604775 |
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