Culture

Michael Moore Muscles Movie Theaters

Having tackled America’s obsession with guns, sickening corporate greed and a broken health care system, the world’s best-known documentary filmmaker is prepping to take on what he describes a s a blockbuster-fixated, documentary-averse movie exhibition system. According to the The Hollywood Reporter, Moore made a New Year’s resolution “to sit down with the heads of […]

SickoposterHaving tackled America's obsession with guns, sickening corporate greed and a broken health care system, the world's best-known documentary filmmaker is prepping to take on what he describes a s a blockbuster-fixated, documentary-averse movie exhibition system. According to the The Hollywood Reporter, Moore made a New Year's resolution "to sit down with the heads of exhibition chains and have them devote one screen in their multiplexes to nonfiction and foreign films."

Specialty films have had a rough time of late. Aside from the few breakouts last year (Once, Waitress, Moore's own Sicko), few foreign, indie and documentary movies have done break-even business, even though the consensus is that 2007 was a splendid year for cinema. Some statistics:
• Revenue from indie and specialty distributors dropped nearly 12 percent from 2006 to 2007
• 350 indie films failed to gross $250,000 in 2007, a number that rose from 313 in 2006

Moore's feeling indie filmmakers' pain.

"People want to see documentaries, but there's a disconnect between that desire and the exhibitors out there," said Moore, who has been planning the initiative for several months. "We're not asking for charity," he said . ... Moore said he's also spoken with marketers and publicists around the country who have agreed to donate their time to publicize the campaign. He hopes to break these films out of "the art-house ghetto" by having them play in suburban theaters throughout Middle America, where they aren't often shown.

Perhaps the central Sundance question has always been "How can we get these films seen by wider audiences?" No one has cracked this particular nut yet (more on this on a post to come), but certainly having Moore apply his considerable muscle will help.

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