'An American Carol' Producers Cry Foul Over Poor Ticket Sales

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.By "lower-than-expected," we mean by their own estimates; I thought $3 - $4 million sounded about right for a movie in 1,600 theaters that didn't get a huge marketing push. Several other websites that also forecast box office earnings arrived at roughly the same number. It wasn't finishing in anyone's top five; let's put it that way. The movie, directed by Airplane! writer-director David Zucker takes aim at liberalism in the United States, seeking to reform a Michael Moore-inspired filmmaker played by Kevin Farley, who wants to abolish the Fourth of July holiday. According to WENN, the film's official website contained a message earlier this week asking its patrons for help in reporting odd behavior occurring in multiplexes over the weekend:

"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

Comments

[whatshisname]

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.

[Get The Big Picture]

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.

[Sam Gindy]

Saw the movie opening weekend. Thought it was good, and very funny. Highly recommend it.

[Heidi]

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.

[Get The Big Picture]

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.

[Brandon]

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.

[duke]

i wasn't aware conservatives had a sense of humor

[Sam Gindy]

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.