The power behind the screen

[jakeXT]

The power behind the screen

Robbie Graham and Matthew Alford

Published 29 January 2009

The output of Hollywood is intrinsically pro-establishment, and to understand why you have to follow the money

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Certain Disney films do appear to have been given preferential treatment for political reasons. When Disney released Pearl Harbor - a simplistic mega-budget movie which celebrated the American nationalist resurgence following that "day of infamy"- it received lamentable reviews. Nevertheless, Disney unexpectedly decided in August 2001 to extend the film's nationwide release window from the standard two to four months to seven months, meaning that this "summer" blockbuster would be screening until December. In addition, Disney expanded the number of theatres in which the film was showing from 116 to 1,036.

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GE/Universal's United 93 was billed as the "true account" of how heroic passengers pn the plane "foiled the terrorist plot" by forcing it to crash prematurely in rural Pennsylvania. At the time, Bush's official 9/11 story was being seriously interrogated by America's independent news media; according to the results of a 2004 Zogby poll, half of New Yorkers believed "US leaders had foreknowledge of impending 9/11 attacks and 'consciously failed' to act"; and just one month prior to the release of United 93, 83 per cent of CNN viewers confirmed their belief "that the US government covered up the real events of the 9/11 attacks". With the official narrative under attack, the US government welcomed the release of United 93 with open arms: the film was a faithful audiovisual translation of the 9/11 Commission Report. Soon after its nationwide release date, President Bush invited representatives of Universal to the White House for congratulatory handshakes, followed by a private screening.

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http://www.newstatesman.com/film/2009/01/disney-hollywood-interests





Does anybody know more about Disney's decision to push Pearl Harbor in Aug 01 ? I didn't know about that.

[Realityhack]

1. Um... Perl Harbor was set to show on only 116 screens nation wide?

That doesn't scan.

[jakeXT]

2. Looks like the movie was on it's way out of the cinema by August and got a boost

$8,437 (USA) (2 December 2001) (21 Screens)
$8,838 (USA) (25 November 2001) (25 Screens)
$14,643 (USA) (18 November 2001) (42 Screens)
$33,493 (USA) (11 November 2001) (66 Screens)
$43,421 (USA) (4 November 2001) (89 Screens)
$63,749 (USA) (28 October 2001) (113 Screens)
$106,723 (USA) (21 October 2001) (181 Screens)
$183,116 (USA) (14 October 2001) (262 Screens)
$226,733 (USA) (7 October 2001) (311 Screens)
$76,018 (USA) (30 September 2001) (122 Screens)
$145,951 (USA) (23 September 2001) (227 Screens)
$129,408 (USA) (16 September 2001) (168 Screens)
$183,145 (USA) (9 September 2001) (272 Screens)
$1,164,650 (USA) (2 September 2001) (1,036 Screens)
$75,852 (USA) (26 August 2001) (116 Screens)
$132,569 (USA) (19 August 2001) (194 Screens)
$237,128 (USA) (12 August 2001) (293 Screens)
$434,965 (USA) (5 August 2001) (462 Screens)
$826,872 (USA) (29 July 2001) (715 Screens)
$1,077,223 (USA) (22 July 2001) (892 Screens)
$1,968,363 (USA) (15 July 2001) (1,210 Screens)
$3,242,099 (USA) (8 July 2001) (1,434 Screens)
$4,722,956 (USA) (1 July 2001) (2,305 Screens)
$6,818,896 (USA) (24 June 2001) (2,668 Screens)
$9,859,120 (USA) (17 June 2001) (3,140 Screens)
$14,721,419 (USA) (10 June 2001) (3,255 Screens)
$29,558,276 (USA) (3 June 2001) (3,214 Screens)
$75,177,654 (USA) (27 May 2001) (3,214 Screen


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0213149/business

[Realityhack]

3. Ok I see what you are talking about.

I was confused by the language in the OP. It made it sound like they never intended more than 116 screens which would be bullshit. In fact re-reading the quote it is still a bit confusing.

I have no idea why they decided to expand the number of screens by so many in late August.

[Bolo Boffin]

4. so it went up from 116 to 1036, and then went back down to 272 the next week

And then it bounced around for the next couple of months and made 311 screens at one point, but then went down steadily until it closed the week of December 2 on 21 screens.

It seems Disney was in a conspiracy to try and keep Pearl Harbor in the theaters until December 7th.