{"article":{"id":113217,"heading":"Why we should all go to the movies this weekend","author":"jamie","created":"2004-06-25 03:22:41","modified":"2013-11-11 00:30:16","last_modified":"Mon, 11 Nov 2013 07:30:16","article":"

Dear friends of human survival,

It's time for a night out at the movies in a big way. Please read the note below and pass it on and I bet we can cause a lot of extra popcorn to be consumed this weekend! We might not have ever had such an opportunity to have fun and support greater awareness for a saner world by going to the movies. Lots of love, jamie

Use Michael Moore's Movie, Fahrenheit 9\/11 to Help Fire Bush

Rob Kall 23 Jun 2004 16:31 GMT



The film could make a real difference in November, helping send Bush back to Texas. But it's important you go see it this weekend, not later

The way the movie business works nowadays, there's one number, more than any other, that grabs attention in the movie business. That's the first weekend's sales of the movie. If it's big, it grabs headlines. If it takes first place for the weekend, that grabs headlines. More important, if those big, first weekend numbers bring in a first place, the movie will tend to have stronger, longer \"legs\" meaning it will be offered by movie theaters for a longer period of time.

That's why it is so important that progressives and democrats fork out their $8 to $10 a seat to see Michael Moore's movie about George Bush on the first weekend. Don't wait. Making this movie a hit is important. It will send a message that the mainstream media will not be able to ignore. It will create a halo effect, so that regular moviegoers who might have ignored it will see it out of curiosity. The big first weekend box-office will open doors in more theaters, so the number of screens airing it will increase, making it accessible to more people.

A few weeks ago, the movie, The Day After, did very well, and that sent a message. Already it is one of the top 160 grossing movies in the US . But, according to www.imdb.com it is already 116th among top grossing movies when worldwide gross sales are included. This suggests that the negative reviews that the right wing media gave it hurt this movie, directed by Roland Emmerich, who also directed Independence Day, the number 10 top grossing movie in world sales. Of course, The Day After has only been out a few weeks, and it's sales will continue.

The point is, Michael Moore's newest movie has a shot at hitting numbers strong enough to keep it visible, to make it more controversial. If it makes serious money, that will put Moore in an even better position to get financing to make further muckraking, hard hitting movies, and it will show Hollywood that there's money to be made telling the truth about corrupt politicians, that there's a profit in funding movies that take on tough issues.

We want to see ten more Michael Moores out there creating hard-hitting films with a political edge. Some of them may have already made straight entertainment films. Who knows, maybe even superstar directors and screenwriters may be dying to do a movie that can make a difference. Maybe, instead of making movies about planetary catastrophes like earthquakes, tidal waves and ice ages, they'll take on the real threats to the planet-- extreme right wingers, megacorporations, massive religious fundamentalist movements, ecological monsters wiping out thousands of species... Hey, if Moore 's movie shows that there's a profit in it.... why not?

And let's not forget Disney. I've long been a fan of Disney. They've had a hard time of it with fundamentalists for making movies that the religious nuts don't approve of. So it's not like they've just come out against the left wing. Also, they could have played hardball and tried to kill the movie altogether, or dragged out the fight to release it so it didn't come out until after the November elections. And they did fund the movie. So I'm not going to boycott them. But I will take a close look at the movie chains that run the movie and the ones that do not.

I expect that the smaller artsy theaters will carry the film first and I usually support my local small theater, rather than the big chains. But remember, part of attending this movie, in addition to great entertainment, is to send a message. If you go to a multplex, large commercial theater, and they do well with the Moore film, they’ll be more likely to take progressive message films from other film-makers, and the next time Michael Moore makes a film, it might open in 2000 theaters instead of 500.

If they're smart, the DNC, MOVEON.org, and other democratic and left wing communications organizations will get the word out to people to see it on the first weekend, using email and maybe even running ads supporting the movie. (I wrote this on June 9th. Move on started sending out messages supporting the movie on the 17th. Way to go Moveon!)

After all, the movie tells the story about a corrupt political dynasty. The more people know about George Bush, the less likely they are to fall for his crinkly smile and folksy demeanor. Bush is a sociopath and his family is a cancer on the planet. This movie tells the truth about the Bush's and we should all do what we can to get that word out.. If it tops the box office in its first weekend, there’s a good chance more theaters will pick it up and that millions of people will go see it just because it’s so hot.

So…. treat your friends, your kids, your parents to free passes to the movie. Organize your club, church, synagogue to go. Plan a party afterwards to discuss it. Moveon.org suggests that supporters wear blue shirts so people can tell who’s got the Moveon.org connection.

You can order your tickets on-line. Do it early, a whole week ahead. Send a message to the theaters that they’ll need to set the film up in the big screen theaters. Maybe we can set a record for pre-sold tickets for a film.

See you at the movies.

Rob Kall rob@opednews.com<\/a> is publisher of progressive news and opinion website www.opednews.com and organizer of cutting edge meetings that bring together world leaders, such as the Winter Brain Meeting and the StoryCon Summit Meeting on the Art, Science and Application of Story This article is copyright Rob Kall and originally published by opednews.com but permission is granted for reprint in print, email, blog or web media so long as this credit paragraph is attached.

e-mail:: rob@opednews.com<\/a> homepage:: http:\/\/www.opednews.com<\/a>

<\/p>\n","contact":"","link":"","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/plain","summary":"Dear friends of human survival, \r\n\r\nIt's time for a night out at the movies in a big way. Please read the note below and pass it on and I bet we can cause a lot of extra popcorn to be consumed this weekend! We might not have ever had such an opportunity to have fun and support greater awareness for a saner world by going to the movies. Lots of love, jamie ","numcomment":11,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2004\/06\/113217.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[{"id":113224,"heading":"having fun with fiction","article":"Moore's crockumentary is just preaching to the choir. Any "swing voter" dumb enough to be swayed by its lies as a cause to vote against Bush is a fucking dunce we don't want anyway.\r\n\r\nThe adults will still be in charge when the credits roll.\r\n\r\n","author":"Fahrenheit 451","parent_id":113217,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-06-25 07:44:56","modified":"2004-06-25 07:44:56","fileurl":""},{"id":113232,"heading":"Moore's Crockumentary","article":"Good description for that fantasy film: "Moore's Crockumentary."\r\n\r\nNo serious minded American would buy a ticket to see that film. \r\n\r\nThe movie goers who have complementary remarks about Moore's film sound about like the Christian Coalition commenting on Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ."\r\n\r\nBoth movies simply reinforce the established beliefs of people with extreme views, one group on the left, the other on the right.\r\n\r\nThe difference is that you can easily prove that Moore's film is laced with untruths. That's not so easy to do with The Passion.\r\n\r\n","author":"BA","parent_id":113217,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-06-25 10:42:59","modified":"2004-06-25 10:42:59","fileurl":""},{"id":113239,"heading":"Wonderful reality","article":"- If the Bush gov. really want to catch a terrorist, they need look no further than your own mirror.\r\n\r\n- Catherine Austin Fitt.\r\n\r\nCatherine Austin Fitt author of Scoop's "T\u0005he Real Deal" column, is a former managing director and member of the board of directors of Dillon Read & Co, Inc, a former Assistant Secretary of Housing-Federal Housing Commissioner in the first Bush Administration, and the former President of The Hamilton Securities Group, Inc. She is the President of Solari, Inc, an investment advisory firm. Solari provides risk management services to investors through Sanders Research Associates in London\r\n","author":"Misery Meadows","parent_id":113217,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-06-25 13:21:45","modified":"2004-06-25 13:21:45","fileurl":""},{"id":113281,"heading":"swing voters","article":""Any "swing voter" dumb enough to be swayed by its lies as a cause to vote against Bush is a fucking dunce we don't want anyway. "\r\n\r\nThat's funny, because the republicans have been pandering to that unthinking fundie and ignorant racist vote for a long time.\r\n\r\nIt's the thoughtful conservatives that are abandoning the Bush ship. Think about that one.","author":"07041776","parent_id":113217,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-06-25 17:56:33","modified":"2004-06-25 17:56:33","fileurl":""},{"id":113288,"heading":"swing smarts and why the left must lose","article":""It's the thoughtful conservatives that are abandoning the Bush ship. Think about that one."\r\n\r\n----For all intents and purposes, at present there is real leadership in D.C. \r\n\r\n-----They're not very good at being Repubs and aren't principled like they should be, but compared to the socialist , morally-bankrupt left they are still eons advanced. \r\n\r\n-------Kerry is not a leader. He's an unlikable, elitist stiff. If the donkey party wants to back this clown, so be it. Only a fool--already losing 40% of his income to the federal leviathan--wants to lose more. And if Kerry thinks he can tax the upper classes to death and also expect job creation, he's been smoking ketchup. \r\n\r\n-------"No nation was ever taxed into prosperity." If you can name one nation that was, it wil only buy you time to make it to your escape craft before the truth is exposed.\r\n \r\nBut like Milt Friedman said: "A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul." In this case, Democrat Paul.\r\n\r\n--------The whole leftist circus is based on punishing the successful and rewarding the failures. Socialism doesn't uplift anyone, it just tears down those that produce and innovate more to the 'average' level and calls it 'equality.'\r\n \r\n\r\n ","author":"C.A. Fitt ain't shit","parent_id":113217,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-06-25 20:24:31","modified":"2004-06-25 20:24:31","fileurl":""},{"id":113305,"heading":"I've read Stupid White Men","article":"I found it on a train so I decided to amuse myself. I can't really imagine anybody over the age of 22 taking this guy seriously (or even finding him funny).\r\n\r\nThe sad thing is he's making a fortune out of gullible young people, just the same immoral racket as Noam Chumpski.","author":"Barney","parent_id":113217,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-06-25 21:45:38","modified":"2004-06-25 21:45:38","fileurl":""},{"id":113312,"heading":"OneEyedMan","article":"Blarney: "...he's making a fortune out of gullible young people,...the same immoral racket "\r\n\r\nIt's called CAPITALISM...\r\n\r\n...and you're finally right, it is an immoral racket.\r\n\r\n...glad to see at least one idiot finally comming around...","author":"KPC","parent_id":113217,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-06-25 22:05:12","modified":"2004-06-25 22:05:12","fileurl":""},{"id":113317,"heading":"OneEyedMan","article":"idiot: "No serious minded American would buy a ticket to see that film. "\r\n\r\n...as opposed to...oh, those serious minded people buying a ticket to see Scooby Doo II?\r\n\r\nNews flash for Republicans: IT'S A MOVIE YOU FUCKIN' IDIOTS! Now, I really can't think of a single reason to see Scooby Doo II, but...hey...if some dingleberry wants to see it...it's their money, why should they be allowed. Now...if you don't wanna go see MM's movie....I got a great idea..\r\n\r\n...DON'T FUCKIN' GO!\r\n\r\nWow...now why is that soooooooooooooooooooooooo difficult for republican to figure out. Don't like it...don't watch it. PERIOD.\r\n\r\nNow stop whining like a fuckin' bitch about a GODDAMN MOVIE for fuck sake! Geez, we just got over laughin' at ya about gettin all jizzed up over that FOX trash, "The Day After Tomorrow"\r\n\r\n...what a bunch of losers....","author":"KPC","parent_id":113217,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-06-25 22:12:00","modified":"2004-06-25 22:12:00","fileurl":""},{"id":113328,"heading":"KPC criticizing Republicans","article":"KPC criticizing Republicans is like a Snail or a Slug criticizing a Lion. \r\n\r\nIt's ridiculous in the extreme\r\n\r\nThere is no intelligent life on planet KPC.","author":"Lefty","parent_id":113217,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-06-25 23:29:39","modified":"2004-06-25 23:29:39","fileurl":""},{"id":113337,"heading":"the difference","article":"Moore's latest fakeumentary is being passed off as factual.\r\n\r\nScooby Doo 2 is not. \r\n\r\nIn fact, Scooby Doo is more in touch with reality than Michael Moore.","author":"Fuck socialism","parent_id":113217,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-06-26 06:45:33","modified":"2004-06-26 06:45:33","fileurl":""},{"id":113357,"heading":"correction","article":""But like Milt Friedman said: "A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul." In this case, Democrat Paul."\r\n\r\nThe government is robbing the American people to continue this Iraqi occupation. No wonder all the profiteers support Bush.\r\n\r\nThe government is robbing the Iraqi people of their oil and social wealth, and selling it to "investors." No wonder the profiteers support Bush.","author":"more rational","parent_id":113217,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-06-26 15:44:44","modified":"2004-06-26 15:44:44","fileurl":""}]}