the movie in which there is supposedly no US audience interest

[realthog]

You may recall a few months ago there was a bit of a flap regarding the movie Creation, which concerns itself with Charles Darwin's dilemma over the implications of his discovery of the principle of evolution by natural selection.

Despite respected leads Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly, despite picking up accolades at various festivals, and despite the obvious topicality of its subject matter, the movie had significant difficulties finding a US distributor. Could this be because potential distributors were worried (justifiably or not) about the possibility of a major kerfuffle from religious extremists? Or could it be, as the faux-Xtian right maintained, because no one in their right minds in this country would want to go see a boring biopic about a long-dead scientist?

Well, this morning, just after 9.00, I received from the NYC branch of the Center for Inquiry an RSVP e-mail invite to a preview screening of the movie on Monday evening. It took me a few minutes to consult with Pam as to whether we'd both like to go, but I wrote back fairly quickly with my response: yes, we'd like a couple of tickets, oh yes, pretty please, yes we definitely would, you bet.

We were too late: already, after a matter of minutes on a Saturday morning, all the tickets had been snaffled.

Some lack of interest, eh?

Comments

[squirrel-monkey.livejournal.com]

It seems disingenuous to claim that only Christian right felt that this movie's lack of distribution was due to realities of studios decision-making (rather than a controversy suggested by the film's producer). After evaluating all the facts it seems that the financial fears are the most likely explanation. There are plenty of good foreign movies that don't get US distribution because they're not expected to be blockbusters (note: not being a blockbuster is not the same thing as 'no one wants to see it'). Controversy is actually a good thing for movies -- Religulous, for example, remains one of the top-grossing documentaries of all times. OTOH, three top-grossing British exports are all romantic comedies with Hugh Grant in them.

On another note, the invites were sent to people who were interested in seeing this movie -- I'm assuming it was not a random mailing. Which shows only that people who want to see this movie want to see it.

Are there people who want to see this movie? Of course; no one argued otherwise. Are there enough of them to justify the risk (from the sudio's perspective)? We'll see; but note that the US distributor was found only after the controversy had started.

[deliabarry.livejournal.com]

Ooh. Does this mean that an opening date is nigh? One can only hope.

[adarkjewel.livejournal.com]

I sense this film is going to be issued as a "limited release" (i.e., shown only in LA and NYC). It might get some play at smaller, independent theatres elsewhere, but most theatre owners in the flyover states would rather make money off the tweens who are willing to watch movies like Twilight and The Hangover 10 times in a row.

I saw a preview of this film on Letterman and admit to being intrigued. I'm particularly interested in the relationship of Darwin and his very devout wife.