Wednesday
08Oct2008
'An American Carol' Producers Cry Foul Over Poor Ticket Sales
Wednesday, October 8, 2008 at 10:07PM
More liberal bias? The producers of
An Americal Carol, the conservative-minded
comedy currently in theaters, report that they have received complaints of what
they call ticket fraud. The producers believe this led to the film's
lower-than-expected box office gross this weekend.
Video clip courtesy of Trailer Addict
"Please check your ticket. If you were in fact one of those people that were 'mistakenly' sold a ticket for another movie please fill out the form below. Hold on to your ticket so we can have proof...If you have noticed other irregularities with the theaters in your area please let us know in the comment section below. For instance, Rated R film rating (when in fact we are rated PG-13), posters not being up, not being listed on the marquee, image or focus problems, sound issues, etc."The notice is no longer on the website, though it clearly points to, what, a vast left-wing conspiracy among every corporate and independent film exhibitor, as well as all the studios, to keep David Zucker's message out of theaters? Come on. The week before, Fireproof did huge business. Nobody claimed that was The God Patrol artificially inflating numbers. Just a suggestion: Screen your movie for the press. I'm in Phoenix, the fifth-largest metro in the United States, and among the top 15 media markets in the country. There was no press screening here for An American Carol. I was told weeks ahead of time the decision to not screen the film had already been made. Wouldn't a movie like this, one that's working outside the system, benefit from free publicity? Reviews didn't run in the Friday newspaper, which is a real mistake from a marketing standpoint. Always. I don't care if it's a horror movie or an indie flick. Curiously, I was even accused of McCarthyism by a reader this weekend for failing to extol any of the movie's virtues in the weekend box office recap, even though it received the same amount of press in that article as two movies I had seen, Blindness and Flash of Genius. It's all a bit asinine. So this boils down to one of two options: 1) There was some secret handshake kind of deal between every theater chain in the country and the major studios, including Fox - which as we know, owns the biggest conservative mouthpiece in the country - to prevent this movie from appearing to have a larger audience. This movement lied, cheated, and stole to undermine David Zucker and An American Carol. The conspiracy included at the very least ticket takers from major theater chains across the United States, all of whom banded together in some coordinated effort of low-earning high school kids to thwart the power of this film's message. 2) The movie didn't generate much interest, probably because it simply doesn't look very funny. Here's the first ten minutes of An American Carol. You can judge it for yourself.
Video clip courtesy of Trailer Addict
Colin Boyd | Permalink | in Box Office, Comedies | Print Article | Email Article | 38 Comments | Share Article
Reader Comments (38)
Ooooh, I see. Yeah, defintely not as funny as Date Movie, Scary Movie 4 or Super Hero. Whatever. The first ten actually made me laugh more than most of Zucker's flicks have in the last 15 years. Oh, hang on, that must make me a trigger happy Jesus freak klan member who likes to bomb abortion clinics when I'm not out raping polar bears and clubbing seals, right? Like I said, whatever.
I haven't seen any of those movies you mentioned, for much the same reason: They weren't screened for the press. And if you only saw the first ten minutes here on our site, then clearly American Carol didn't resonate strongly enough in your mind to make you go purchase a ticket on opening weekend.
Saw the movie opening weekend. Thought it was good, and very funny. Highly recommend it.
I don't suppose the producers have considered the possibility that with the recent economic crisis that people don't have the money to go to movies?Nope...IT MUST BE A CONSPIRACY. Gimme a break.
Again, the movie did OK. It made about as much as most observers thought. I guess we're supposed to believe it would've made $10 million or something.
After seeing the first 10 minutes... it was halarious. I haven't seen such bold politcally incorrect humor like that in forever. Will have to go see it.
Yeah not sure what the producers are talking about, they should be happy it made more money then religulous made.
i wasn't aware conservatives had a sense of humor
We have four major theater chains in Northwest Ohio. One of the largest (16 screens) is not showing this movie. You can find every other movie known to mankind playing, but not AN AMERICAN CAROL. I guess we're supposed to believe that's just coincidence. I'm sick and tired of the liberal media trying to control what we see, what we hear and how we think. Play the damn thing and let the people decide whether we want to see it or not.
I found three theaters within ten miles of Toledo (ZIP 43601) playing the movie this week, and two of those will keep it in theaters this weekend. Only one around Toledo is playing Religulous. Keep in mind that Religulous is the one released by a major motion picture studio, not An American Carol. In fact, Carol is on three times as many screens as Bill Maher's documentary.
That's probably not a coincidence, either. It's just another example of the Godless left-wing media giving...no wait, that doesn't add up.
I went to a 10 screen theather in Lancaster, Texas. I wanted to purchase my ticket by credit card using the self service ticket kiosk. All of the movies except An American Carol had a picture of the poster displayed. An American Carol was represented by a white rectancle with no poster picture. Only the small lettering at the bottom told me that the darkened rectangle was the movie I wanted. Then I tried to purchase a ticket. The kiosk would not process my card. I called an attendent over and tried again. He verified that I had done things correctly, but it still would not process my card. I have since used my card to purchase gas and the card worked with no problems. The card is far below it's limit so the card was not the problem.
I paid cash for the tickets at the window.
Well I have to wonder why our local Carmike theater didn't put it on their big reader board. It's got 12 boxes for the various movies, and AC wasn't on it for whatever reason - they used one of the boxes from some other drivel. The only reason I knew it was there was because of the newspaper listing of movies. In retrospect, that seems a little odd.
Good movie! Liberals would be funnier if they were not so dangerous to the American way of life. This movie made be laugh but also made me depressed. Thanks liberals for 911, 50 million aborted babies (mostly black and female), and the current economic crisis.
On Oct. 3rd at the AMC Star Gratiot 21, the scrolling LED above An American Carol's individual theater was putting out gibberish. All other theaters in the "hallway" were scrolling proper movie titles. We had to check with customer service to make sure that it was the correct theater, and that we'd see An American Carol. A couple years prior, when we went to see Amazing Grace at the same theater, the theater arbitrarily cut out that particular show time, and we had to go back another night. So, yes, I'm beginning to see a pattern with certain types of films.
Wow...that's incredible. Everybody's in on it! The credit card kiosk, the theater advertising departments, and even the kid who inputs data in the LED scrolls.
Has it occurred to any of you that if there really was a conspiracy, theater owners would just not accept An American Carol's business? Wouldn't that be a more effective way of making sure people don't see this important message? Instead of shutting it out completely, it debuted last weekend on over 1,500 screens. That's a healthy run for a movie that doesn't have a major distributor. In fact, it's more than Appaloosa, which is backed by a major studio and is filled with Oscar nominees. It's more than Miracle at St. Anna, which was a Disney release, and is twice as many theaters as the new Woody Allen movie ever played in.
The problem is not that the movie is being kept from people. And the assertion that some massive coordinated effort by every corner of the media to keep this movie down is simply absurd. Think of everyone who would have to be involved from the studio heads on down to the kid running the LED machine, and not just in one city, but in every city.
Again, wouldn't it be easier to just not book the movie at all?
Be realistic: This movie will make $10 - $12 million, which is a notable haul for a film with a moderate budget and a limited release. But let's look back at the performance of any political movie over the past five or six years. With one or two exceptions, politics is not what people want to see at the movies right now. I think that has as much to do with it as anything, certainly more than the teenager taking tickets.
I liked the first 10 minutes and I will see the movie! The left is always offended if they don't get a chance to hammer
the movie before the public can make up its own mind. Nice try guys , but we are not as stupid as you think.
How to NOT promote a movie in Bismarck, North Dakota:
1. Do NOT advertise in the news paper
2. Do NOT put the name of the movie on your outdoor sign
3. Do NOT display promotional posters in the mall hall way.
4. Do NOT show the movie playing at the ticket booth
5. Have only one showing for the grand opening night.
6. Have the movie share a theater screen with another movie
7. Have a “hard to see” homemade sign over the theater-screen door entrance.
The story:
I was aware that “American Carol” was supposed to be released nationwide at the beginning of October. It was NOT promoted in the Bismarck newspaper. On Monday (October 6th) I drove to the Grand Theater (15 screens) to see if the movie was playing there. I went into the Grand theater and looked at the posting of all the movies currently showing, which are displayed above the ticket counter. The “American Carol” title was NOT listed. I assumed that it must be then showing at the Carmike 8 Theater (8 screens). I drove to the Carmike theaters, by way of the Sears north parking lot (thereby not driving by the outdoor sign). I en tered through the west door. I noticed that there were NOT any posters showing the “American Carol” playing. I approached the ticket booth and looked at the list of movies playing, which did NOT show the “American Carol” playing. I then asked the person at the ticket counter if they had “An American Carol”. He said they have the movie but he was not sure when they would be playing the movie. He said he could go find out that information, which I asked him to do. He returned and said that they would start showing the movie the next day (October 7th) one time at 7:30. I thanked him and told him I would return to see the movie. When I left the theater, I decided to drive by the outdoor sign to see if it was listed. The movie “American Carol” was not listed anywhere on the outdoor sign.
On October 7th I returned to Carmike to watch the movie. On my way to the theater I drove by the outdoor sign to see if the movie was listed. It was still NOT listed. When I entered the theater to see if there were any posters promoting the movie. There were NONE. When I purchased the ticket I looked to see if it was listed above the ticket booth. It was NOT. I was told the movie was being shown on Screen #1. When I went to Screen #1 I was not sure if I was at the correct screen since “Step Brothers” was prominently displayed above the door. I then walked to Screens #2,3,& 4, which showed other movies=2 0playing. I returned to Screen#1, and then realized that Carmike had made a “hard-to-read” sign made out of 3 pieces of taped together paper which said “American Carol” in blue ink from what appeared to be an ink-jet printer. I entered the theater at 7:30, and the screen was not showing anything ( no previews or advertising). I was the only one in the theater. I waited for about 5 to 10 minutes before the previews started. During the entire course of the movie, I was the only person in the theater. It was obvious I was the only person that knew this was the grand opening night for “American Carol” in Bismarck.
On October 8th I returned to the Carmike to see the movie again. This time the outdoor sign had “American Carol” listed. There was one poster in the hallway promoting the movie, and the movies name was now shown at the ticket booth. “American Carol” is still sharing a screen with “Step-Brothers” and still has the homemade sign above the entrance to Screen #1, and is still only being shown once at 7:30. There were however now eight people watching the movie. When I looked in the October 9th Finder paper, the movie is still not listed. Oh, and by the way, when I purchased my second ticket, it showed I was the 1,679 person going to "Step-Brothers". Since I was about 30 minutes late, they had already switched the ticket system to the second movie showing at the same theater-screen. So I have in20my possession two ticket stubs; one showing I was the 1st ticket sold for American Carol (with time stamp) and a second ticket (with time stamp) showing I went to a different movie.
So, you be the judge. Is this how you would promote a new movie coming to your theater, or for that matter, any event you want to draw people to? Two or three promotional mistakes are understandable, but SEVEN do raise questions about motivation.
Michael,
I think your complaint has something to do with the way Carmike crams movies into their theaters there in Bismarck. I'll call them on Monday to try to get an answer for all of us. In the meantime...the chain has two theaters in Bismarck, one with 11 screens and one with eight. The one with 11 screens currently has 18 movies it's showing! The one with eight, which is where An American Carol is playing, has ten movies. I can't answer to the posters and the ads in the paper, but I'll include those questions in my phone call.
I went to see the movie on Oct. 3rd in Tyngsboro, MA, since it was not playing at my local (Lowell, MA) theater. The nearest theater other than Tyngsboro was Methuen, MA, about 14 miles away. The movie is advertised on the sign outside the theater and there was a poster up and the scrolling marquee outside the theater had the movie's name.
Funny movie, by the way. That clip of the first 10 minutes will give you a good idea of the comedy. Go see it -- if you can find it.
I see movies in a theatre once a decade. I'm ready to see this one if/when it comes to southern Maryland - but it's not here yet.
It was not funny. It was bad. Like, REALLY bad. Like, more than half of the already small crowd left during the course of the movie.
Here's a joke: the ACLU wants to keep religion out of government. Also, Universities indoctrinate students.
Get it? If not, avoid this turd. I know it was supposed to satirize the Left, but it works much better as a satire of how the Right feels about the Left. If it weren't for the fact that it wasn't ever remotely funny, it would seem like something out of the Colbert Report.
Great movie. Wonderful to see liberals skewered since it occurs so infrequently. They oppose it because they only support freedom of expression when they agree with its content which makes them opponents of this fundamental human right.
Does anyone remember "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"? There was absolutely no publicity on that film until momentum started to build and people were already seeing it. What about Napoleon Dynamite or Juno? These were all totally indie movies that no one cared about until word of mouth got out about how great they were. Good movies build their own groundswell, whereas a crappy movie with a ton of publicity is still a crappy movie. I haven't seen this movie, so I'm won't pass judgment on it. Just remember that nothing gets in the way of a great movie that appeals to lots of people...i.e The Passion of The Christ. With little initial publicity, that movie couldn't be stopped and Gibson caught royal hell trying to get that movie made and distributed. As far as the ads, signs and posters missing, those are provided by the distributor, so if the distributor didn't place ads, or send enough signs/posters, how is it the theaters fault? Maybe it will catch on later or maybe people won't see it. Either way, if it doesn't succeed, I can't say its all the theaters doing...
I watched the 1st 10min just now here. Like most funny movies, some parts were funnier than others. The taliban instructional video was pretty funny. Other parts I admit would not be funny unless you were a conservative such as the Cubans trying to board the boat, and still other parts werent funny at all.
Erin, you couldn't be more wrong about Passion of the Christ. There was a whole lot of publicity when the film was released (remember the prime time Diane Sawyer interview?) and it was in 3,000 theaters on opening weekend. It grossed $83 million over three days in February! So, that's a bad example. It also made more than half of its money domestically in its first ten days, so it didn't have a run that resembled Juno or Greek Wedding in any respect.
An effort does not need to be coordinated for something like this to happen. True, I don't belive it's a coordinated plan by liberals to keep the movie suppressed, but it isn't any secret that liberal supporters are fanatically freaked out about anything labeled "conservative". I've seen decent people, who tout that they believe in freedom of speech, tolerancy, freedom of religion and standing up for the little guy, become the exact opposite of what they claim just in an effort to dispute some conservative view point. Ask any other person who is in the middle and is not affiliated to one or the other who has not also seen this bizarre behavior out of liberals recently.
So whereas I believe there is no conspiracy against this movie, I do believe liberals today would definitly take it upon themselves to stiffle the movie in their areas. The reason I believe this is the day the movie opened I tried to google it but couldn't remember it's name. I input "carol christmas movie" and not one reference came up about the movie. At that time I said to myself, geeze, liberal whack jobs are even inserted into Google searches. I did the same search today and there is now one link supplied in a sea of links. Don't get me wrong, I believe there are bad conservative whack jobs, but it's obvious they have absolutely no power in media with the exception of radio. People like me, in the middle, are really getting sick of the panic of the liberals anytime anything conservative shows any type of success. It's almost as sick as when George Bush was coming out and saying how great the war was going in Iraq when in truth we were getting our butts kicked.
Bottom line: be it liberal fanticals or conservative fanaticals, we in the middle see any issue or dispute quite plainly for what it is. In this case, I definitly believe the movie was suppressed. But in no way do I believe there was a coordinated effort to do so.