So much for self-reliance. Echoing another famous Tea Party Patriot, Sarah Palin, the producer of "Atlas Shrugged: Part I" blames the media and the critics for his own dismal failure:
'Atlas Shrugged' producer: 'Critics, you won.' He's going 'on strike.'
"Critics, you won," said John Aglialoro, the businessman who spent 18 years and more than $20 million of his own money to make, distribute and market "Atlas Shrugged: Part 1," which covers the first third of Rand's dystopian novel. "I’m having deep second thoughts on why I should do Part 2."
I bet you are, Mr. Aglialoro! That sound you're hearing is $20+ million of your own money being flushed down the toilet.
Seems like all the pants-wetting Tea Partyers went to see it the first week. And that was that...
"Atlas Shrugged" was the top-grossing limited release in its opening weekend, generating $1.7 million on 299 screens and earning a respectable $5,640 per screen. But the the box office dropped off 47% in the film's second week in release even as "Atlas Shrugged" expanded to 425 screens, and the movie seemed to hold little appeal for audiences beyond the core group of Rand fans to whom it was marketed.
But it's not his fault that no one wanted to see it...
Aglialoro attributed the box office drop-off to "Atlas Shrugged's" poor reviews.
Hey, whatever happened to "personal responsibility?" When you create a shitty product, own up to it! Hell, even the pants-wetters didn't want to come back for a second look, apparently.
But some of the quotes attributed to the critics were highly entertaining:
Roger Ebert called the film "the most anticlimactic non-event since Geraldo Rivera broke into Al Capone’s vault," while Rolling Stone's Peter Travers said the movie "sits there flapping on screen like a bludgeoned seal."
Just two weeks ago, Mr. Aglialoro was predicting the film's move to 1,000 screens.
But he is backing off an earlier strategy to expand "Atlas" to 1,000 screens and reconsidering his plans to start production on a second film this fall.
...
"Maybe I just wanna see my grandkids and go on strike."
Go on strike until critics call "Atlas Shrugged: Part I" the greatest film since "Citizen Kaine" "Hot Dog: The Movie."
Me thinks thou doth protest too much, Mr. Aglialoro. What's another 40 million bucks?