Box Office Mojo Spotlight: Fahrenheit 9/11 tops $103 Million Domestic...

[VolcanoJen]

... in 33 days, and counting.

$103,356,000 domestic; $116,880,000 worldwide, with Sunday estimates included.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=fahrenheit911.htm

[Joanne98]

1. Yeah

[fishnfla]

2. Ok, freeper guy on the radio asked these questions:

and I want to email a response. He asked:
1. has Moore donated any of the films profits to any 911 charitable orgs?
2. Is it right that Moore is profiting off the tragedy?
3. has anyone else made this money off of 911?

I dont know the complete response to this attack, I have some ideas but I'm sure DUers know better than I.....

[Lorien]

3. The Carlyle group

and Halliburtan have made hundreds of millions off 9/11 (plus whoever profited from the airline put options).

Moore held several charity screenings of F 9/11 for veteran's groups prior to it's opening. I don't have a link, but I think there were a few DUers who attended.

[faithnotgreed]

4. from the little ive heard, he & miramax as part of their buy-out contract

from disney: disney has large control over where the donations go.

in short, something like 60% is up to disney to donate. and i have heard that michael is donating a large amount to civil rights organizations among other places... but you should check out his website. maybe that has more specific information

also, if there wasnt such a huge lack of press coverage in this country, the numbers for f 9/11 wouldnt be so big!

[peacetalksforall]

5. Number 1 in profiteering.

1. Investors in stock market PUT-OPTIONS on American and United Airlines and some investment companies with large staffs in the WTC.

Moore made his film honestly and in the open. He didn't have an FBI team investigating a crime in regards to his film (and then closing the file as Ashcroft did to protect the guilty) and didn't ignore the issues as the Commission did in regards to put options). Moore doeosn't have any criminals running around free as a result of his documentary as we have criminals running around our country, Germany, and the Saudi Arabia.) The last phrase is my conjecture.

[maggrwaggr]

10. yeah and he didn't worry about pissing anybody off, either

and he comes out a winner. Imagine that.

[meti57b]

6. bush is the one who has profited from 911, big-time! Is that "right"?

My guess is that MM made the movie to benefit our nation as a whole and free it of the bush administration. That should in turn benefit the 911 charitable orgs.

I notice that F911 has grossed roughly 1/3 as much as Spiderman2 in roughly the same amount of time (20% difference). That's pretty good!! (to say the least)

[maggrwaggr]

11. "has anyone else made this money off of 911?"

That's a joke, right?

[TexasBushwhacker]

14. Answers

1) Moore is the director of Fahrenheit 9/11, however he no longer owns it. The Weinstein brothers of Miramax purchased the domestic distribution rights back from Disney for the original $6 Million invested. They, in turn, sold the domestic distribution rights to Lion's Gate and IFC. The film has only been out for 33 days and it is doubtful that an dollars have returned to the coffers of Lion's Gate, IFC or the Weinstein's just yet. Moore does, by contract, get a percentage of the "back end" if there is any, however, that can take months, if not years to actually recieve. If Moore wants to make charitible contributions to any organization, that is his right. He can make those contributions public, or he can make them privately. He's not going to satisfy his critics no matter how much money he gives away, so why should his behavior be governed by what they think is right anyway?

2) Moore is a filmmaker. If he is "profitting" off of the 9/11 tragedy by making a film about it, then network television is profitting from 9/11 by selling commercial time during their coverage of the tragedy. Every TV special, every book that's been written, every magazine that's been sold with 9/11 as its major topic has "profitted".

Moore should not be held to a non-profit standard any more than any other business. He makes films. That costs money. He has a staff that must be paid. He has a family to support and he has to finance the groundwork for his next film prior to getting any outside investors, IF he gets any outside investors. His next project is said to be about the healthcare industry and is unlikely to be as profitible at Fahrenhiet 9/11 if it is profitible at all. Independent filmmakers pay thier bills and save their money for their next project.

3) Yes, others have made money off 9/11. Businesses have sold everything from gas masks to emergency parachutes small enough to be carried in a back pack. While Moore may be making money from Fahrenheit 9/11, the film is about far more than the 9/11 tragedy itself. Moore is NOT making money by capitalzing on American's fear, which is more than can be said for some.

[fishnfla]

15. Ok thank you. the freeper radio guy, he asked

when spielberg made "shindler's list" did not 100% of the profits go to holocaust groups? is this true? I dont know.

to which I would reply: Mel Gibson, Passion of Christ?

lest anyone thinks i am playing straw man game, the radio guy was Shannon Berg, from a local station here, WTKS.

I knew about the stock market prior to 9/11, this dude is too thick to wrap his skull around that.

How much did Moore's film cost to make?

[TexasBushwhacker]

16. You're welcome

Spielberg is in a wealth league that is totally beyond Michael Moore. Spielberg is financial secure enough to give every dime he's made for Schindler's List and every film he's made since then and for the rest of his life. Moore works from project to project. No doubt he's doing okay and will be doing even better with Fahrenheit 9/11, but he still makes documentaries and that's just not where big money is and it never will be. Spielberg did set up the Shoah Visual History Foundation while he was making Schindler's list. Here's the VHF's website:

http://www.vhf.org/

The only figures I heard associated with Fahrenheit 9/11 were the $6 million provided by Miramax and the $10 Million that's been spent on marketing (that's for prints, advertising and paying the theaters their share for the screening), so that's a total of $16 million. Moore may have spent some of his own money to get the project off the ground before Miramax gave him the $6 Million to complete it.

Just off the top of my head, I know that Moore will send a "Bowling for Columbine" DVD and/or a copy of "Dude, Where's My Country" to any soldier who requests one, all at his own expense (including shippng). He's also provided "Books for Soldiers" with hundreds of copies of each that they can distribute as well.

http://www.booksforsoldiers

[Kipepeo]

27. Mel Gibson: exactly

Mel Gibson profited off the death of Jesus. To the tune of $609 million.

Did He hold any benefit screenings like Moore did?

That should shut them up.

[calimary]

18. When you respond, don't forget the photo of bush in Air Force One

on the phone, supposedly acting "presidential" on the day of 9/11, that the RNC has SHAMELESSLY peddled all over Christendom. But, oh NO, THAT'S not profiting off the tragedy, is it? Every time bush mentions 9/11 in his speeches and in his rationales for any lame-ass thing he wants to do, he winds up profiting from 9/11. Same thing for the war that's a direct result of 9/11 - that's MORE than benefited Halliburton and subsidiary war profiteering companies.

[VolcanoJen]

25. damn straight, calimary!

ALWAYS include the Bush on 9/11 photo fundraising opportunity in your freep-radio talking points!!

[Media_Lies_Daily]

22. Responses:....

1. This will be the only film that has generated enough profit for Moore to make money. After all expenses are paid on F911, 60% of the profits will go to charites of Disney's choice. How the rest of the profits will be split is currently unknown, but I bet Miramax gets a good-sized chunk for being willing to buy the movie from Disney.

2. Is it right that so many Americans are getting a chance to see the REAL George W. Bush, thanks to Moore being willing to risk everything to make this movie? The greater the risk, the higher the reward.

3. Can you repeat the last question, please?

[in_cog_ni_to]

7. WTG, Michael!

:yourock:

[TexasBushwhacker]

8. AND $100 Net and counting

That's $116 Million worldwide with only $6Million in production costs and $10 Million in marketing expenses. SWEET!!!!

[Media_Lies_Daily]

24. 60% of the profits will go to charities of Disney's choice...

...I'm assuming that was part of the deal when the movie rights were sold to Miramax for $6 million.

That still leaves $40 million...Miramax will probably get a good piece of the action just for being willing to buy the movie rights from Disney.

[maggrwaggr]

9. gosh, he could have made more if he hadn't pissed off the GOP!!

(tongue in cheek)

(re: Obama threads)

(joking)

[bookman]

12. Great news

I plan on adding a few bucks on Wednesday when I bring 2 Republican friends to see it. It'll be my second viewing.

This and Bush's stem cell stance may win them over.

[Zomby Woof]

13. b-b-b-but it's... a FLOP!

Or so the freepers said just before opening day. :evilgrin:

[gatorboy]

17. A question my wife had asked me

about the the 9/11 commission report being out for sale in book stores this week. She wondered why they didn't just give it away, considering our tax dollars went into the process of publishing and printing it anyway. Maybe someone has a better explanantion than I have, but why can they charge for something our tax dollars already paid for?

[CaTeacher]

20. The report is free on the net.

However, if you want a printed and bound copy, then you have to pay a nominal fee--this fee is meant to cover the costs of the paper, ink, printing, binding, distribution etc. I think it is around $10. This is very fair--and they are not making a profit off it. There are expenses to providing a printed and bound copy to people.

But if you don't want to pay for a hard copy--you can download it for free off the internet.

[Only Me]

19. The Cinema's here....won't even show it.

:grr:

[dbt]

21. TV Kick!

Hey, CNN. Why is Michael Moore doing your job for you?

:evilgrin:
dbt

[Moloch]

23. That's great

but I wonder why it isn't doing better internationally.... $13 million is not very good for the rest of the world...

[VolcanoJen]

26. It's only playing in four countries

I'm honestly unsure if $13 million is a a good overseas number or not, judging from the respective countries and release dates:

Country - Release Date - Total Gross

Belgium - 7/8/04 - $576,109
France - 7/7/04 - $3,700,000
Switzerland - 7/8/04 - $303,138
United Kingdom - 7/2/04 - $2,400,000