George Clooney's Leftist Movie Flops At Box Office

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Clooney's Leftist Movie Flops At Box Office

Monday, 10 Oct 2011 10:05 AM
By James Hirsen


George Clooney’s latest movie, “The Ides of March,” debuted over the weekend and left Sony studio execs scratching their heads over the less-than-expected box-office take of $10.4 million.

Audiences weren't exactly raving about the film either, but they still liked it enough to grant it a "B" at CinemaScore. By comparison, “Real Steal,” the weekend's No. 1 box-office movie, hauled in $27.3 million and scored an "A."

After decent reviews from critics and a warm reception at the Venice and Toronto film fests, Sony executives were expecting a lot more from “Ides.” But now future hopes of profitability rest with the awards that the film may potentially garner.

The movie, which is based on Beau Willimon's 2008 play titled “Farragut North,” is a left-of-center dream sequence. The truth is that Clooney’s character would only be able to obtain a nomination from a major political party or be elected to high office in a make-believe world.

The character's No. 1 issue is greener energy, which he claims is the pat solution to end warfare in the world. He also wants to outlaw the internal combustion engine and is proud of not being religious minded, even going as far as to belittle opponents who talk about their faith.

A.O. Scott of The New York Times called the movie "an image of the liberal heart's desire," and the Los Angeles Times described Clooney's character as "a hardcore liberal's dream candidate."

“Ides” portrays members of the GOP and centrist Democrats as dastardly villains, which should strike the fancy of many of the voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, who may just toss some nominations at the film.

Even with the disappointing debut weekend, Sony can take some comfort in the money that was laid out for the flick. Deadline reports that the movie’s production budget after rebates came in at about $12.5 million.

Still, squeezing a movie’s budget can have some negative consequences. If people perceive that corners are being cut, it can harm the word of mouth that oftentimes is the component that propels both the box-office and would-be awards.

The critic for The Wall Street Journal, Joe Morgenstern, wrote that, as a result of the limited budget, the film feels “underpopulated.”

“Ms. [Marisa] Tomei's reporter appears to be the only news person working the campaign in a Cincinnati whose streets are so empty that every day looks like Sunday,” Morgenstern opined.

It hasn't gone unnoticed that Clooney's promotion of a left-leaning political movie may not be the greatest fit for the times. Nikke Fink pointed out on Deadline.com that “marketing a political film from the liberal Clooney — especially when he’s director, producer, and writer — is a tough task in this deeply divided 2012 election climate.”

Sony has tried to downplay and perhaps even conceal the liberal political fairy tale aspect that is part and parcel of the film’s plotline.

As Fink noted, despite Clooney having made the cover of Time magazine, co-star Ryan Gosling was featured on the studio’s promo materials.

 

Clancy The Clown....Opps, I mean George Cloony has already shown us that he knows nothing about politics so why go see his stupid movie?

 

This is really disappointing. I figured the movie was left of center but didn't know it was going to be hard left. What the hell man. Look, Clooney is a good director and a decent actor and his politics don't bother me. Syriana and Mark Clayton were good films. Why is it so f*cking hard to make a film that will be appreciated for it's art rather then it's ideology?

I know this wouldn't happen in a million years but imagine how shocking it would be if Hollywood made a politcal film that actually challenged the liberal agenda. They don't even have to believe it, just to make it. It would get a huge audience and it would really challenge the actors.

There is just no reason to see a film that is so predictable because we know who the bad guys are, the republicans and we know the answer is always green energy. It's so frustrating. Clooney is a smart enough guy where he could get away with it. He could make a film that could piss off the left and not suffer any consequences.

There are a lot of good actors in Ides and I'll probably still see it. But I guess I'll have to dream.

 

All Clooney's movies stink.

who could name even one good one?

--Shortie Ebert Out

 

My wife and I saw Clooney's movie over the weekend with some friends who assured us that it was really great. It wasn't.

The characters are interesting and there's some zippy dialog, but it runs out of story about half way through the movie. I was hoping for a "Michael Clayton" type drama that builds up a real head of steam... this movie just fizzled.

 

We all have our poor misguided liberal/Democrat friends. God Bless 'em.

 

Let's try this for an exercise. Name the most right leaning political movie you have ever seen. Not some late night made for TV movie, but a bona fide Hollywood film that actually made it into the theaters.

 

That would like asking Past Prime to name his black friends. The place is not engineered that way. Hollywood is Progressive, always has been always will be. Odd, tho, since movies are advertising and viewing based that after all this time they can still be that way. They must have a couple of supporters out there

 

Be careful with your assumptions, Pabst Prime actually supported and endorsed a black man for US Senate in IL.

And for the record, you are wrong about Hollywood. There actually is a great comedy that really makes fun of all the liberal stereotypes. In fact, it's actually a pretty entertaining film. I highly recommend everyone to see it if you like political comedies.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113613/