'Death of a President' flops at U S box office

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

LOS ANGELES, Oct 31 (Reuters) The provocative film ''Death of a President,'' which imagines the assassination of George W Bush, bombed at the North American box office with a meager 282,000 dollars grossed from 143 theaters in its first weekend.

The pseudo-documentary played at 91 U S theaters and 52 Canadian cinemas during its first three days of release, averaging an estimated 1,970 dollars per screen, according to distributor Newmarket Films, which reportedly paid 1 million dollars for U S rights to the picture.

''That's a very poor opening,'' said Brandon Gray, an analyst at industry watcher Web site boxofficemojo.com.

The per-screen average is considered the best initial barometer of box-office success for a limited-release film, as it offers an apples-to-apples comparison with movies of widely divergent distribution patterns.

Elsewhere on the art-house circuit this weekend, ''The Queen,'' starring Helen Mirren as British monarch Elizabeth II, grossed 1.9 million dollars from 152 theaters for a per-screen average of 12,500 dollars in its fifth outing -- about the same as the Dixie Chicks' documentary ''Shut Up&Sing,'' which opened last Friday in just four theaters with total ticket sales of 50,000 dollars.

Newmarket distribution chief Richard Abramowitz called the opening tally for ''Death of a President'' ''a little disappointing'' in light of the ''enormous awareness'' generated by the film since its premiere last month at the Toronto Film Festival.

At least two national theater chains boycotted the film and some television networks refused to accept paid ads for the movie.

Politicians across the spectrum, from the Republican Party of Texas, Bush's home state, to New York Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton criticized the film for portraying the murder of a sitting president.

Abramowitz, whose company also released Mel Gibson's highly controversial blockbuster ''The Passion of the Christ,'' acknowledged that the subject matter of ''Death of a President'' might have proved to be a turnoff for American audiences.

''The very thing that drew all the attention to the film became at a certain point difficult to overcome,'' he told Reuters. ''The controversy ... made the film very visible but not necessarily for reasons that would compel potential moviegoers to go to the theater.'' Studios typically aim to widen the distribution of limited-release films once they open but Abramowitz said he expected ''Death of a President'' would end up on fewer screens next weekend.

Still, with future distribution on DVD and television, ''I think this is going to turn out to be a nicely profitable film for Newmarket,'' he said.

British director Gabriel Range's two million dollars picture centers on the hypothetical ramifications of Bush's assassination and its impact on U S civil liberties. The film mixes real footage of Bush with digital effects to depict the president being gunned down by a sniper as he leaves a hotel in Chicago.

Reuters AB DB1131

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