Don’t Question Their Patriotism: Hollywood and the War in Iraq
I wouldn’t say Hollywood is stupid…wait, yes, I would. Hollywood is stupid to continue to produce anti-American crap like Stop-Loss because (a) Americans won’t buy it and (b) they lose any credibility when they try to tell us how patriotic they are.
Via Memeorandum,Nikki Finke says,
I’m told #7 Stop-Loss opened to only $1.6 million Friday from just 1,291 plays and should eke out $4+M. Although the drama from MTV Films was the best-reviewed movie opening this weekend, Paramount wasn’t expecting much because no Iraq war-themed movie has yet to perform at the box office. “It’s not looking good,” a studio source told me before the weekend. “No one wants to see Iraq war movies. No matter what we put out there in terms of great cast or trailers, people were completely turned off. It’s a function of the marketplace not being ready to address this conflict in a dramatic way because the war itself is something that’s unresolved yet. It’s a shame because it’s a good movie that’s just ahead of its time.”
Emphasis mine.
What is wrong with these people? Americans don’t want to see anti-American movies, not because the war is on-going, but because they dislike films that bash our country relentlessly. As DRJ at Patterico’s Pontifications points out, Hollywood needs to realistically judge its markets and stop cramming this sort of thing down our throats. We don’t want to see it.
And as Jaime Sneider of the Weekly Standard says, Hollywood produced plenty of box office hits during World War II. They just weren’t America-bashing films. But remember: don’t question their patriotism!
Cross-posted at Gold-Plated Witch on Wheels.
Yorkshire:
When I saw the Drudge Report headline of Stop-Loss was DOA at the Box Office I thought the same way. Also, being produced by MTV said enough for me.
29 March 2008, 9:22 pmDana Pico:
But, they’re artÃsts, don’t you know, and crass commercial concerns are for lesser people.
29 March 2008, 11:35 pmDana Pico:
And perhaps there’s a flaw in their thinking. The people who are already on their side aren’t normally interested in war movies, and the people who are interested in war films aren’t going to the movies to listen to some anti-patriotic message.
29 March 2008, 11:38 pmJoe Shallenberger:
As usual Hollyweird’s got it wrong. Basing inadequate box office profits on the false premise that Americans don’t want to see anything regarding Iraq war movies, where the real truth is Americans know bullshit when they see it.
The whole idea surrounding the title ‘Stop Loss’ itself offers a pretty good clue. A message devised to support the concept of a “Backdoor Draft”, where the evil Bush’s evil war-mongering military holds hostage unwilling participants who’ve paid their dues in an unsupported war that can’t be won. What a load of crap!
There’s not one man or woman who raised their hands and took the oath, to support the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic, that didn’t know what they were volunteering for.
‘Op Hold’ - or Operational Hold has been around for as long as I and most other veterans have known. Anyone who’s ever served knows it to be a fact of life. Why is it that Hollywood doesn’t?
30 March 2008, 10:44 am