Pharyngula

The propaganda movie opened in Canada, and the weekend box office numbers are in.

So Canada is a smaller country in population than ours, and their money is worth a little more than ours, but still…I don’t think we can call that anything but a flop.

Where’s Creationist Keith now? He was ranting about the hundreds of millions of dollars the movie was going to make, how it was going to trigger a world-wide change in attitudes towards evolution, and how it was going to get me fired. Boy, was that prediction ever wrong.

Comments

#1 J. Tode
June 30, 2008

It’s playing at one of my local indie theatres right now. I’ve had a mild urge to see it, just to bear witness to the idiocy firsthand, but rationality has thus far won out. :>
#2 steve8282
June 30, 2008

Sadly it garnered one good review here in Toronto blasting it to 12% on the Tomato meter.

I chose to see Wall-E instead.

Was it just me or did Wall-e seem a little critical of the Mouse owners?
#3 Lynnai
June 30, 2008

Wow, I think a managaer of a McDonald’s makes more money then that.
#4 Sili
June 30, 2008

Well, wrong is par for the course for creo trolls.
#5 Glen Davidson
June 30, 2008

To be fair, we only know of 36 theaters in Canada which ran it. But then, the per-theater take is still abysmal.

ID really is losing in Canada, because they still have many reviews against it, which have been particularly knowledgeable due to Expelled‘s debacle here. So no one sees the wretched junk, while they learn what a sham of a movie ID has produced.

And poor Ben Stein is sobbing about how badly he’s been treated–even as he admits that he hasn’t even read the Scientific American piece “Six things Ben Stein doesn’t want you to know about Expelled” (something like that).

He won’t even read the most accessible and well-known critiques of his lies, but whines pitifully about how close-minded others are. Of course we knew that, because virtually every bit of his blogs were shot down by commenters at Expelled’s blog, and he kept making the same outrageously stupid claims about evolution nonetheless (like that it doesn’t explain gravity).

The better known these shit-mongers are, the better.

Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/2kxyc7
#6 Zeno
June 30, 2008

He was ranting about the hundreds of millions of dollars the movie was going to make

Okay, so the revolution didn’t happen. I guess they’ll have to settle for an evolution instead. Poor things.
#7 SC
June 30, 2008

Since the last time I mentioned it was on a waning thread, I’ll bring it up again: I saw Constantine’s Sword last week, which struck me as the anti-Expelled. Has anyone else seen it? Has everyone else seen it?
#8 Maakuz
June 30, 2008

Gratz at the people behind Expelled! They surely feel encouraged to spread their masterpiece to other countries, too.
#9 Glen Davidson
June 30, 2008

Where’s Creationist Keith now? He was ranting about the hundreds of millions of dollars the movie was going to make, how it was going to trigger a world-wide change in attitudes towards evolution, and how it was going to get me fired. Boy, was that prediction ever wrong.

Waterloo!

And as per the usual, the creationists/IDiots are Napoleon’s forces at these Waterloos.

Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/2kxyc7
#10 amphiox
June 30, 2008

Well at least Keith stuck his neck out and actually made a testable prediction, which puts him one intellectual tier higher than the rest of the ID movement. (But just one)
#11 HumanisticJones
June 30, 2008

Does anyone have a good figure for how much they have had to dump into advertising? Is it past the 3.5M budget wikipedia has listed, or is advertising a part of that budget? It seems like they would have lost massively in Canada because of this what with having to spend more money on adverts only to bring in 25k their opening weekend.
#12 Holbach
June 30, 2008

Ha, who’s laughing now you freaking morons! Why couldn’t you get your imaginary god and all it’s billions of angels to help out with the receipts? When are you going to smarten up that you are insane and that your imaginary god and all it’s bullshit is only in your head?
#13 Capital Dan
June 30, 2008

Never heard of Constantine’s Sword, SC. Is it worth checking out?
#14 michel
June 30, 2008

i’m getting curious to see how expelled would do in europe… it seems to me a movie like this could only do well in the usa, and even there it didn’t.
#15 J-Dog
June 30, 2008

Holbach – As Expelled tried to explain, the film did poorly, becasue god was not granted tenure at an American University, and also it didn’t do well, because Darwinism leads to The Holocaust.

The icing on the Expeled Cake of couse, is that all the imaginary angles saw it, and they thought it was nothing but a big piece of environmental hazard too, and worked a miracle that robbed the cash boxes of the theaters that showed it.

So THAT’s why. So there.
#16 Dr. Matt
June 30, 2008

To be fair to the producers of Expelled, there really wasn’t any way to predict that there would be such a limited audience for a film promising two hours of Ben Stein, dressed in a schoolboy uniform, complaining about imagined bias in university tenure decisions.
#17 pcarini
June 30, 2008

I don’t think I’ve seen anything from Keith since the movie came out. He didn’t even gloat over the first week’s box office results.

But don’t worry foax, I’m sure he’s still out there with his “triple strength pepper spray and a mail order tazer” waiting for it to become legal to attack evolutionists.

All I’ve got to say: Don’t taze me, bro!
#18 Boomer
June 30, 2008

Oh, Canada!

This makes me even more proud to be Canadian. True separation of church and state, you Yanks should try it sometime! It rocks!

It is heartening to see this movie flop so badly here, especially considering the misleading marketing campaign. I saw the trailer on Canadian TV last weekend, and it is an edited version of the American trailer which makes no mention of God or ID. People who don’t know better would think this is a comedy since it stars Ben Stein (in fact some of my friends have fallen for it already, although they didn’t see the movie yet thankfully).
#19 Hessenroot
June 30, 2008

I finally sat and endured the entirety of this “film” (pirated copy off the web, they’re not getting a dollar from me).

Pain, pain, pain.

It’s not just that I disagree with the content but it’s so poorly put together. There’s a good bit of it that’s unintentionally hilarious though…
#20 chancelikely
June 30, 2008

30,000,000 Canadians divided by 24,000 in receipts: The average Canadian spent eight hundredths of a cent on Expelled.

“Still overpriced,” said generic Torontonian Brian McCulloch.
#21 T. Bruce McNeely
June 30, 2008

The Canadian dollar is currently worth 99.08 cents US, so the W/E box office is even a bit more dismal than you thought, PZ. I have calculated the gross per screen for the entire weekend at $675 CDN. That is pathetic.

I should also mention that Ben’s Turd has gotten a fair bit of publicity in the Canadian Press, as well as Stein’s multiple guest appearances on Canadian network TV. Maybe this will put to rest the old cliche: “There’s no such thing as bad publicity”.
#22 Winawer
June 30, 2008

Does anyone have a good figure for how much they have had to dump into advertising? Is it past the 3.5M budget wikipedia has listed, or is advertising a part of that budget? It seems like they would have lost massively in Canada because of this what with having to spend more money on adverts only to bring in 25k their opening weekend.

You know, that’s a good question. I looked around a bit when I was writing the post, but I couldn’t find anything useful.

Actually, I was thinking about something similar when I was writing: when I analyzed the numbers for Expelled as it was playing in the US, I was using a figure of $1500-$2000 for each print of the film delivered to the theatre for showing. Now, I don’t know if they simply recycled their prints from the US showings, but if they didn’t they would already be hip-deep in red ink (assuming printing costs are the same here in Canada, which I can’t find either). It would be a close run to see if they could even make up the printing costs at this rate, let alone any costs incurred from advertising or other distribution costs.

I’m not a movie industry guru, though, so I’m open to correction from those who are more experienced.
#23 Lord Zero
June 30, 2008

Im sure some people would see it
for curiosity… anyway, its something
for what Canadians indeed can feel proud.

But anyway, since US its a clerical country…
its something like a whale proud of being bigger
than a mouse. Its not challenge at all.
#24 Nick Gotts
June 30, 2008

SC@7 – Sounds good – I’ll look out for it across the pond.
#25 Lynnai
June 30, 2008

Maybe this will put to rest the old cliche: “There’s no such thing as bad publicity”.

No I think that cliche still stands, but I think in this case it got vetoed by another more seldom used trueism: “You can’t polish a turd.”
#26 Nick Gotts
June 30, 2008

Where are all the creobots arguing that the Canadian opening was an unprecedented triumph? Come on guys, with your experience in telling monstrous lies and concocting absurd arguments, this one should be a doddle!
#27 Ben Abbott
June 30, 2008

That results is a rather nice test of a hypothesis … I doubt Stein and clan will grasp that though
#28 BlueIndependent
June 30, 2008

I made more than that (before taxes) in my first job outta college. I know people that make more than that without a degree, barely out of high school.

PZ:
“…Where’s Creationist Keith now? He was ranting about the hundreds of millions of dollars the movie was going to make, how it was going to trigger a world-wide change in attitudes towards evolution, and how it was going to get me fired. Boy, was that prediction ever wrong.

I hadn’t read the rant you are referencing, but perhaps he meant in Turkey, where the creobots are running rampant. And you could’ve closed stronger. Maybe with something like:

“Ya, I’ve heard that one before. Bunch of posers.

Feel the oats.
#29 katie
June 30, 2008

You know…I bet that entire 25k was just people curious to see just how bad it was…
#30 Jeff Arnold
June 30, 2008

The only reason Expelled didn’t do well in the box office is that the entire movie industry is run by Satan. OBVIOUSLY he’s going to supress such an insightful and profound movie. The Dark Lord would never permit a movie which ejaculates Truth at such an alarming rate to succeed.

And poor Ben Stein is a victim in all this. Truly a martyr in the tradition of Jebus and Mrs Butterworth, who selflessly pours out her entire self each morning so that we sinners can have sweet, sweet waffles…
#31 DiEb
June 30, 2008

Did anyone tell Kevin Miller?
#32 SC
June 30, 2008

Capital Dan @ #13 and Nick Gotts @ #24,

Here’s the trailer:

http://constantinessword.com/?page_id=7

I knew most of the history in the film already, so there were no major surprises for me, though I imagine that for religious people unfamiliar with this history it would be very disturbing indeed – I wonder how many will see it….

What I found interesting was how much it seemed to be the reverse image of Expelled (what I’ve read of it, anyway). There were scenes that seemed to parallel those in Expelled, but come at the questions from a critical, introspective angle. The way Carroll weaves his own biography into the story is also interesting. And it offers Ted Haggard at his most deranged.

It looks like it has sparked some criticism from religious groups, but I don’t know if it’ll have any broader impact….
#33 Ken Cope
June 30, 2008

A take like that wouldn’t begin to cover court costs in defense of ganking Lennon’s Imagine. Didn’t I read here that the Stanford team worked pro bono, because to them, fair use was more important than the thieves and liars who claimed they were covered by it? Because if they weren’t working pro bono, good luck recovering attorney’s fees from Stein’s fellows in talentless hackery.
#34 FordPrefect
June 30, 2008

I am sure that descriptions like this at http://www.winnipegmovies.com/ didn’t help either

” This movie follows Ben Stein as he seeks to determine whether religious based Intelligent Design / Creationism is a pseudo-science trying to undermine evolutionary biology or whether it is legitimate science being suppressed by a scientific establishment that is hostile to any deviation from the status quo. Along the way, Stein is told that evolutionary biology is responsible for the Holocaust, Stalinism, and the Second World War, and that only religion based alternatives such as Intelligent Design / Creationism and the intervention of a god can adequately explain the existence of life. ”
#35 LisaJ
June 30, 2008

Waita go Canada! I am such a proud Canadian right now. Although I will admit that I haven’t seen one advertisement for this atrocity on television or movie previews, and I live in Ottawa, where apparently the movie is playing in a couple of theatres. So this may have something to do with the low numbers. However, I think this really indicates that everyone knew it was crap from the start, so no one cared to advertise much.
#36 Ben
June 30, 2008

Has a creationist prediction ever come true?
#37 Carrie
June 30, 2008

Also worth noting: even though the currency exchange is about even, movie tickets are more expensive in Canada, $10-12 for an evening show. So it took fewer people to get that $24,374 than it would have in the US.
#38 t-1000
June 30, 2008

Wow, that’s enough money to buy a Mini Cooper.
#39 MikeM
June 30, 2008

Wow, I think a managaer of a McDonald’s makes more money then that.

Posted by: Lynnai | June 30, 2008 1:20 PM

Yeah, but not in one weekend.

(Sorry.)

We also saw Wall-E, but we’re nowhere near Canada. I have Canadian relatives, though. Does that count?

Just my opinion, but Wall-E didn’t quite reach the level of Ratatouille. Still an excellent movie, though. The anti-consumer, anti-waste message is quite strong and well-delivered. I really liked it.
#40 Torbj�rn Larsson, OM
June 30, 2008

I don’t think we can call that anything but a flop.

A flop? More like a death twitch.

[I'm aware of the DVD plans. So what? That is a zombie walking. ]

The better known these shit-mongers are, the better.

Fully agreed, put a spotlight on it. Life thrives in the sun, ignorance thrives in the Dark Ages.
#41 Feynmaniac
June 30, 2008

Never been prouder to be a Canadian! The national motto should be changed from “A Mari Usque Ad Mare” to “Expeleed didn’t even make enough its opening weekend here to pay for tuition at Harvard”.

Rationality, universal health care, good manners and French Canadian girls make up for the lousy weather!
#42 Matt Penfold
June 30, 2008

Anyone want to offer a suggestion as to how Nisbett and Mooney will spin, sorry, frame this ? Personally I reckon they will just ignore the fact Canada exists.
#43 mona
June 30, 2008

$25,000? Fucking awesome.
See, they weren’t expelled! They just can’t afford more than a semester’s tuition. Who knew Ben Stein was working to promote economic justice?
#44 theShaggy
June 30, 2008

Even though it seems like it’s up on the torrents now (where did you get it, #19?), considering it has already failed, would this mean it’s safe for me to go sit through guilt-free?
#45 Lynnai
June 30, 2008

Yeah, but not in one weekend.

(Sorry.)

Posted by: MikeM | June 30, 2008 2:45 PM

*laughs* true, but you generally don’t need to spend millions in advertising to get a job at McDonald’s, so think of it as a bit of unfair trade off.

I still think the schlep at the McDick’s comes out ahead.
#46 Bob Carroll
June 30, 2008

Constantine’s Sword was impressive. I especially liked the segment on the existence of ancient ghettos, even in Rome. James Carroll’s (no relation) narration was very effective, I thought. As an “anti-expelled” documentary it addresses something that the Stein disaster deliberately refuses to mention – the persistent antisemitism in Christian (mostly Catholic) culture dating back to the fourth century.
#47 ed
June 30, 2008

That Kevin Miller guy says Expelled will be released on dvd in North America on Oct.21st,hoo hoo mark your calendar.I’m with Hessenroot at #19.I would not pay a penny to see that bullshit.But I might watch it on a rainy bored to tears day for free.
#48 CanadianChick
June 30, 2008

sniff

*wipes away a tear*

I’m just so proud to be a Canadian right now…
#49 Aquaria
June 30, 2008

I’m sure he’s still out there with his “triple strength pepper spray and a mail order tazer”

I think someone’s read Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum books too many times and not realized they were, you know, fiction. But then, I’d bet he thinks the Hebrew Fairy Tale book isn’t fiction, either.
#50 Tim Bousquet
June 30, 2008

Hey, the loonie is a tad below the dollar, for the moment anyway, but with another six months of W, who knows what’ll happen? Here’s my review of Expelled, from Halifax (I even interviewed Stein):
http://tinyurl.com/4ju6fz
#51 Courtenay
June 30, 2008

Some CDN reviews… I apologize if someone already posted them elsewhere

http://www.nationalpost.com/arts/movies/story.html?id=615802

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/MOVIEREVIEWS.20080627.EXPELLED27/MovieStory/Entertainment/Movies

I especially like:
Then the Lord looked upon Ben Stein’s work and declared: “Though I am a loving God, quite frankly, Ben, this film is an appallingly unscrupulous example of hack propaganda and it sucketh mightily. What’s more, I didn’t laugh once.”
#52 Brian
June 30, 2008

Yeow.

I thought that’d Expelled would do OK, not great, in Canada, as in it would be a decent step towards getting them out of their financial hole.

Not this box office slaughter.

Brian
#53 rarus.vir
June 30, 2008

Glad they lost their ass on that flick. I havent seen it yet because I refuse to give them my money. I think we will all look back on this film the way we do with Reefer Madness now, Comedy.
#54 Gary
June 30, 2008

Hey, this is Creationist Keith checking in.
How can you really blame me for what I predicted? After all, we Creationists are nothing if not wishful thinkers.
#55 Anonymous
June 30, 2008

I’ve been looking for the Expelled torrent for ages too, but all I’ve ever found are fakes. Where can you download it ?
#56 Eamon Knight
June 30, 2008

Ottawa folks: it’s showing at the Kanata AMC 24 (ie. right near where I live). Hard to believe it made a major suburban movieplex, but there it is. But having acheived that kind of exposure, it’s hard to believe it only took in $24k. I’m not planning to see it, unles maybe a posse of us would like to convene at O’Connors right across from the cinema to hoist a few and get in the proper frame of mind first. (And of course, buy tickets to something else).

But for yuks, you have to see the ad on the AMC site .
#57 Rarus.vir
June 30, 2008

I wonder what South Park will do with this.
#58 PeteK
June 30, 2008

“Plan 9 from Outer Space” grossed more,,,
#59 Adam Morrison
June 30, 2008

Lol, I think Canada sent a clear message to Ben Stein and his poofist squad:

Take off eh!

(Man I can’t wait to move back to Canada
#60 Patricia
June 30, 2008

…it sucketh mightily…gee thanks god, thats the first intelligent thing you ever said…oh and when you leave this time, take your twin tards with you Ben & Bush…;)
#61 Boomer
June 30, 2008

Tim Bousquet @50 -

“To a Canadian audience, Stein’s silly arguments will likely fall as flat as his fanciful musing about expropriating our water.”

Wow, good call Tim!
#62 Steven
June 30, 2008

Feynmaniac wrote:

“Rationality, universal health care, good manners and French Canadian girls make up for the lousy weather!”

Hey, I thought the French Canadian girls were supposed to be a secret! Now we’ll be up to our eyebrows in American immigrants seeking rationality, cheap prescriptions, and beautiful French women.
#63 386sx
June 30, 2008

Wow that’s pretty bad. It must be a really awful movie or something.
#64 S. Scott
June 30, 2008

I know where keith is (if you would like to taunt him) … he is over at PT on the Analysis of Louisiana Academic Freedom Bill thread.
#65 Benjamin Franklin
June 30, 2008

According to Kevin Miller at his blog-

“…the film had a production budget of just $3.5 million and an estimated marketing budget of 2-3 times that amount, Expelled will almost certainly be well into the black by the time it is released on DVD in October.”

Kevin Miller is nothing, if not an optimist. Does he really think they will generate 5-8 million DVD sales of his piece of shit movie? Thats an awfull lot of church basements.

That’s not quite as whacked as Keith Eatons prediction of “Star Wars” type numbers, but it’s still crazy.

Three Cheers for out brothers to the North for ignoring the this cinematic cesspool, this piece of movie making manure, this fucked up film, this crap on celluloid.

(Maybe if I increase my level of venom, combined with fanciful alliteration I can get some consideration for a Molly. Or is just Kevin Miller-type optimism on my part?)
#66 Peter Vaht
June 30, 2008

Every culture in unison just justly said ‘FUCK OFF’ to Expelled.
#67 Al
June 30, 2008

So, there are 24,374 more Loonies for Ben Stein and co…
#68 Caveat
June 30, 2008

Let’s see, the movie theatre I go to charges $14.00 for a ticket but it’s a cool theatre – banked seats, lots of leg room, etc.

So let’s say the average house charges $10 a seat.

That means that about 2,400 people saw the movie across Canada last weekend.

Our population is small but it’s not that small. The average theatre probably holds 1,500 people (guessing).

Heh.
#69 Bert Chadick
June 30, 2008

Perhaps it’s changed, but isn’t the UCA the “State Church” of Canada? I see it both ways on the innerweb tubes, but everyone says that the Canadian government funds church schools. He. He. Nothing like getting religion involved in government to empower corruption and dilute the fervor for the invisible dictator in the sky.
#70 Patricia
June 30, 2008

Hey SC, thanks for the link to Constantine’s Sword. I’m certainly going to that if It comes here.
#71 Just passing through
June 30, 2008

Even better: the Canadian movie “Young People F*cking,” which had Canada’s own version of Pat Robertson (Charles McVety) screeching about morals and lobbying the Canadian government to make tax incentives on film production contingent on a approval by a some sort of “Vice and Virtue” committee has grossed 373,000$ in its second week. And I doubt it’s playing at as many theatres as Ben’s Turd.
#72 Bert Chadick
June 30, 2008

Oh Yeah, I forgot. You’ve still got the whole DVD release thing to go through PZ before you can forget “Expelled”.
#73 Glen Davidson
June 30, 2008

Stein wrote:

Under a new anti-religious dogmatism, scientists and educators are not allowed to even think thoughts that involve an intelligent creator. Do you realize that some of the leading lights of “anti-intelligent design” would not allow a scientist who merely believed in the possibility of an intelligent designer/creator to work for him… EVEN IF HE NEVER MENTIONED the possibility of intelligent design in the universe?EVEN FOR HIS VERY THOUGHTS… HE WOULD BE BANNED.

In today’s world, at least in America, an Einstein or a Newton or a Galileo would probably not be allowed to receive grants to study or to publish his research.

Ha, ha, ha, Stein, not only do we atheists prevent any religious person from getting grants (we, of course, can look into Miller’s and Collins’s hearts and discern that they are in fact atheists), we prevent Canadians from seeing your movie.

I guess we’re collectively God. We can do anything anywhere, and they may as well give up. For surely we can start torturing and killing the IDiots any time we wish to do so.

Funny how much more effective we are than the God who is supposed to have designed us.

Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/2kxyc7
#74 davidlpf
June 30, 2008

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
#75 NoB
June 30, 2008

Let’s get a few things in perspective, PZ. Expelled only opened on 36 screens in Canada, which is a fraction of what it opened on in the US. At $24,374, that’s a per screen average of $677 for the weekend, which isn’t too bad for a platform release. If it had opened on as many screens in Canada as it did in the US, it would have done just over 700k. So it’s not nearly as laughable as you make it out to be. There’s also the reportedly huge DVD release to look forward to this fall, PZ. So cackle away while you can, but that won’t change the fact that Expelled is still one of the highest grossing documentaries of all time. And you helped contribute to that bottom line by promoting the heck out of it on your blog. Let’s not forget that little detail.
#76 Stevogvsu
June 30, 2008

Well, we definitely know ol Keith isn’t any sort of O.T. prophet now don’t we?
#77 Strider
June 30, 2008

Yah, but their previews were run during “The Daily Show, Eh?” and so in my book that means the movie was a success.
#78 Nick Gotts
June 30, 2008

NoB@75. Come on creobot, can’t you do better than that? It’s a disaster, a floperoo, a stinker, a pile of fetid dingos’ kidneys – and you know it. This was the movie that was supposed to convince the world of the evil in evilution. Bwahahahahaha.
#79 NoB
June 30, 2008

Nick@78: I gave you facts, you responded with nothing but attitude. Don’t you know not to bring a knife to a gunfight?
#80 JimNorth
June 30, 2008

Playing with numbers:

2,400 people viewing the movie in 36 theatres yields 66.6666 people per theatre;

Or, $24,000 loonies (gross approximation of the receipts) divided by 36 theatres gives 666.666 dollars per theatre.

Need I continue?
#81 Moses
June 30, 2008

Here’s a load of crap:

…that’s a per screen average of $677 for the weekend, which isn’t too bad for a platform release.

No, it’s not “isn’t too bad.” It’s properly characterized as “fucking disaster” as it’s about ONE-FOURTH it’s US opening take of $2,824/theatre.

Only if it was made dirt cheap will it ever stand a chance of breaking even because half that money goes to the theatre for showing it.

Remember:

Pig + Lipstick = Pig.
#82 Nick Gotts
June 30, 2008

NoB@79. Death threats now, is it?
#83 Moses
June 30, 2008

Nick@78: I gave you facts, you responded with nothing but attitude. Don’t you know not to bring a knife to a gunfight?

Posted by: NoB | June 30, 2008 4:53 PM

Science Cat says:

INTRPETAZASHUN OF FAKZ: UR DOIN IT WRNG!
#84 Inoculated Mind
June 30, 2008

I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again, the success or failure of Expelled as a propaganda tool is measured by the success or failure of antievolution efforts in the schools. Up until Louisiana last week, Expelled was failing miserably with all its related measures. Louisiana is a success for them, but will likely be short-lived.

That being said… hee hee hee… what a flop.
#85 Solenadon
June 30, 2008

If it had opened on as many screens in Canada as it did in the US…

Whych begs the question NoB…why didn’t open on as many screens? Or at least on some comparible fraction of screens?

If you get your 36 from the Expelled site, keep in mind they missed Manitoba. And since its playing here that’s 37 theatres…making the screen draw $659 a screen.

Given that in Winnipeg there were 10 showings over the weekend..that gives us a ticket draw of $65.90 a screening.

Given ticket prices of $8.00 dollars for adults there, this comes to about 8 people per showing.

Yup…it’s a rip-roaring hit…
#86 Gene Goldring
June 30, 2008

IDiots!
Who the heck wants to go to a movie let alone a religious mocumentary on Canada Day weekend? Tue. is the actual holiday but a lot of folks take Monday instead to make it a 3 day weekend. Movie theatres are the last thing on our minds.
#87 Janine, Disingenuous Jackass
June 30, 2008

Let’s get a few things in perspective, PZ. Expelled only opened on 36 screens in Canada, which is a fraction of what it opened on in the US. At $24,374, that’s a per screen average of $677 for the weekend, which isn’t too bad for a platform release.

Posted by: NoB

NoB. NoB? Wait! Are you nobody. Nice little “if” game you are playing there. The simple fact is it opened on only 36 screens through out the entire nation. Please tell us why that is. Could it be that the npeople who run these theaters know they would make more money running other movies?

Let’s not forget that little detail.

So cackle away while you can, but that won’t change the fact that Expelled is still one of the highest grossing documentaries of all time.

Kind of like being among the fastest runners among those people who have uneven legs. But please keep spinning these events. It is a funny show.
#88 DB
June 30, 2008

Expelled opened in a dollar theater up the road from me. I saw it on the sign for just one week. When I asked why they took it down so soon, they said because only 5 people came to see it then entire time it was there.
#89 Janine, Disingenuous Jackass
June 30, 2008

Nick@78: I gave you facts, you responded with nothing but attitude. Don’t you know not to bring a knife to a gunfight?

Posted by: NoB

nobody, your facts are laughable. Your gun is a musket that you are trying to use in a rainstorm. You lose to the knife.
#90 Metro
June 30, 2008

And this happened in a country that still has a state religion (the Queen is the head of the Anglican church and Defender of the Faith).

$700 per theatre, so far as I can make out, would just about cover the salaries of the people working that weekend.

$6.50/hr average (minimum wage, roughly averaged out across the provinces) x 20 hours (one afternoon and two full days) = $130 per employee.

So if you run your theatre with five people, you’re clearing enough for a jumbo popcorn, roughly.
#91 StuV
June 30, 2008

There’s also the reportedly huge DVD release to look forward to this fall

Are they putting them in really, really big boxes?
#92 robhoofd
June 30, 2008

@NoB:

So now that the movie has flopped on the big screen, it’s the DVD release that’ll change the world?

Well, at least, if -God forbid- Expelled flops as hard on DVD as it did in the theaters, surely, eventually, the TV premiere will finally shake the darwinist fundamentalist community to its core!
#93 Tulse
June 30, 2008

Let’s get a few things in perspective, PZ.

Yes, let’s — according to the numbers this film made less money in Canada its opening week than Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic, a film in Hindi. (I’ve always been proud of how multicultural Canada is, but never prouder than now.)
#94 robhoofd
June 30, 2008

NoB@75:

So now that the movie has flopped on the big screen, it’s the DVD release that’ll change the world?

Well, at least, if -God forbid- Expelled flops as hard on DVD as it did in the theaters, surely, eventually, the TV premiere will finally shake the darwinist fundamentalist community to its core!

I mean, it is still one of the highest grossing documentaries of all time, right? Right?
#95 Alex
June 30, 2008

“…one of the highest grossing documentaries of all time.”

I thought it was science-fiction, wasn’t it?
#96 Hessenroot
June 30, 2008

@ #44

I found a valid yet poorly seeded torrent the same week it hit theaters here in Minneapolis. I’ve since deleted the video and the torrent. I’ll poke around and see if I can dig it up again (Soulseek might have it too). In hindsight I should have kept it around for situations like this but I didn’t want it stinking up my hard-drive.

As far as guilt free, that’s for you to decide. I’d feel guiltier if I’d payed to see it.
#97 Bad
June 30, 2008

Between Creobot, Obamabot, Hillbot, and all the rest, I’m getting a little tired of all the .bot stuff. Can people just have opinions we disagree with without knee-jerk imagining them as thoughtless followers?
#98 Justin
June 30, 2008

I could make a DVD of an elephant taking a crap and make more money than that. Hilarious. Very occassionally, justice lets out a gasp in this corrupt world.
#99 BlueIndependent
June 30, 2008

Bad @ 97:

I sympathize on most of what you said, but regarding creobots I don’t. Creationism has had far too long to make itself relevant and hasn’t. In fact it’s had longer than creationists will admit (since the EARTH *IS* older than 10,000 years). Like flat-earthers, if you are living today, and you honestly think life HAD to have been created by a god because the Bible/Torah/Qu’ran/Bhagavad Ghita/etc. said so, that’s pretty much automatic graduation into creobotdom.
#100 khops
June 30, 2008

that’s less than my grad school stipend. pwned.
#101 KEvron
June 30, 2008

“I’ve had a mild urge to see it”

eventually, like reefer madness, it’ll gain some kitsch value, and then all the hipsters will have it on their shelves.

KEvron
#102 Kseniya
June 30, 2008

*yawn*

I’m sure the failure of Exhumed! is due to the stranglehold that atheists have over every aspect of American (and, apparently, Canadian) life.

Wall-E was fun. There are some nice audio jokes and classic s/f movie refs. The plot themes evoke stories that are familiar to s/f fans, but in the interest of avoiding spoilers, I won’t say evocative of what.
#103 DLF
June 30, 2008

I’m going to celebrate Canada Day just a little bit harder tomorrow because this POS American weirdo film couldn’t even break $1000 in sales per screen.

I’m going to bet that the third run of Iron Man will be its replacement by the weekend.
#104 Patricia
June 30, 2008

Piss off Knob! I don’t just haul off and cackle for anyone. Your demand infers that I am a cackle slut. *snort*
#105 Benjamin Franklin
June 30, 2008

I read at Uncommon Descent that Denyse OLeary is advocating a TV series.

She said-

“Given the many recent discoveries that challenge Darwinism and materialism, a thirteen-part TV series on the real arguments for and against design is needed.”

More Wedge Strategy in planning. I wonder why Denyse hasn’t written a thing about how Expelled tanked so bad in Canada? What a footling twallop!
#106 Blake Stacey
June 30, 2008

KEvron (#101):

eventually, like reefer madness, it’ll gain some kitsch value, and then all the hipsters will have it on their shelves.

Well, that’ll make it easier to celebrate Expelled Day in the fashion which was suggested in the discussion which followed PZ’s chart-topping post. A gaggle of evilutionists have to go to the local art-house theatre dressed as Richard Dawkins and watch the movie, leaving a sacrificial friend dressed as a squid outside to play with his iBook.

Playing off the Reefer Madness angle, we could institute a drinking game, or better yet, a smoking rule: take a hit every time a “Lord Privy Seal” clip flashes on screen. This has the added advantage that massive amounts of marijuana smoke make better scientists. Thank you, I’ve got my data point — his name is Carl — and I’m sticking with it. (-:
#107 Rodeobob
June 30, 2008

If it had opened on as many screens in Canada as it did in the US, it would have done just over 700k.
What a wonderfully misleading claim that is!
A quick check at the box office totals shows that the opening weekend for Expelled grossed almost $3M in its opening weekend. So what you’re saying is that if Expelled showed on as many screens in Canada as it did in the U.S., it would have only earned about 1/4 of the box office gross.

There’s also the reportedly huge DVD release to look forward to this fall, PZ.
Who is reporting this “huge” release? Thanks to the magic of the internet, you could have, you know, linked to pre-sales numbers to prove your point…

…but that won’t change the fact that Expelled is still one of the highest grossing documentaries of all time.
It’s #12 on the list of highest grossing documentaries, a long, long way from the top spot. It might crack the top 10, maybe, but right now, it’s behind documentries about ballroom dancing, college baseketball, and a dead rapper.
#108 Hessenroot
June 30, 2008

@ 107

Thanks for that list! I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed “Murderball” and “Fast, Cheap and Out of Control”.

I may have to rent them again this weekend.
#109 Ray Mills
June 30, 2008

Heh, wonder if it will make it outside of continental North America?
#110 chancelikely
June 30, 2008

Ray Mills #109:

As soon as they dub it into Turkish. Otherwise, I wouldn’t bother.
#111 Wowbagger
June 30, 2008

$677/screen might just cover the costs of having the theatre staff mop up the ejaculate the resulted from the few creotard fundies who went to see it to beat off at the thought of real science being derailed by this lying crock of shit.

Too bad, Ben Stein. Who’d have thought that being a speech-writer for Nixon could be the second-most reprehensible thing a person could do for a buck?
#112 mona
June 30, 2008

If it had opened on as many screens in Canada as it did in the US, it would have done just over 700k.

Eh, that’s a difficult assumption. Who’s to say it’s impossible, that the only effect of adding more screens would be that the eight people attending each showing wouldn’t need to drive as far?
#113 Kenny P
June 30, 2008

Hopefully, we won’t see “EXPELLED, the Musical!”
#114 Owlmirror
June 30, 2008

Who’s to say it’s impossible, that the only effect of adding more screens would be that the eight people attending each showing wouldn’t need to drive as far?

Heh. $24,374 gross / 1052 theatres = $23.17 per theatre
#115 Holbach
June 30, 2008

NoB @ 75 True, let’s not forget that little detail; the movie is shit!
#116 Wowbagger
June 30, 2008

If Expelled: The Musical goes the same way as Reefer Madness: The Musical and features the delightful Kristen Bell then I may begrudgingly fork out the cash to see it…
#117 NRT
June 30, 2008

Are the producers paying schools to drag students along to see it in Canada as in the US?
#118 Geoff
June 30, 2008

So proud to be Canadian right now and just a day before Canada Day.

Wow. I’m only a bit disappointed it took in that much money. Seriously. Take off eh! Thanks PZ and Take Off Rick McGillis the hack critic who actually gave it a good review.

The point of being a critic is to be critical. He really doesn’t know what that means.
#119 Kel
June 30, 2008

lol, pwned. Nice to see Expelled crash and burn once more.
#120 gwangung
June 30, 2008

What a wonderfully misleading claim that is!

No, it isn’t.

But you are.

You’re saying Canadian theatre owners are so dumb that they looked at the US openings and failed to learn a lesson from the US box office.

Don’t think so.
#121 NRT
June 30, 2008

Hmm….the Expelled Challenge page is still up…

http://www.getexpelled.com/schools.php

Can’t find the old Challenge FAQ page, suggesting “school-wide mandatory field trips” to cash in on the kickbacks, anywhere there now.
#122 NRT
June 30, 2008

I know it’s highly unlikely, but is there any way of getting figures on how much they’ve actually paid people to go and see their BS?
#123 Winawer
June 30, 2008

NoB @ 75: Been to Canada, much? There isn’t 1,052 theatres in the entire country. In fact, Stats Canada reports (a bit old, but that’s all that a quick Google turned up), that as of 2003 there was only 588 theatres in the country and that number was trending downwards.
#124 Winawer
June 30, 2008

Can’t find the old Challenge FAQ page, suggesting “school-wide mandatory field trips” to cash in on the kickbacks, anywhere there now.

NRT @ 121: If you’re still curious, I’ve got a screenshot of their FAQ page where they were talking about it here (look near the bottom).
#125 Geoff
June 30, 2008

If I may build on what Winawer said, Canadian per screen averages tend to be higher than American Averages so this figure would be comparably be lower if it had been American.

Sorry Charlie. The movie has thus tanked!
#126 Ichthyic
June 30, 2008

NoB…

are we sure that isn’t a typo, and it’s really:

kNoB

?

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=knob
#127 Patricia
June 30, 2008

Knob is an idiot, but Stein is the lead tard. He doesn’t realize yet that the pope just stabbed him in the back big time. The pope just last week said the Nazi’s killed the jews because of neopaganism not because of christianity. That is a crock! The story on it is over on the link above for Constantine’s Sword.
#128 James F
June 30, 2008

I’m happy to hear of the low Canadian box office for Expelled, of course, but could you remind me once again how much a documentary needs to gross before it equals peer-reviewed scientific research? Oh right, it NEVER equals research.
#129 SC
June 30, 2008

Patricia, way back @ #70 – You’re welcome!
#130 Geoff
June 30, 2008

I forgot to add to most important word of all:

Schedenfreude
#131 The MadPanda
June 30, 2008

Kenny P (NOT-The-Troll) did type thusly in reply #113

Hopefully, we won’t see “EXPELLED, the Musical!”

This is something I might not mind seeing, if only in hopes that it would end up like Springtime for Hitler. It could work, if played as campy satire!

Can we get Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder to play the producers? Oh, wait…Nathan Lane and Matt Broderick? No, no, they’ll want a good script.

Can we get Mel Brooks to improve the script? Nobody puts Nazi in Comedy like Mel! Oh, wait. He actually has a sense of humor! And I hear Stein doesn’t like him very much.

And now thanks to Geoff, I have that song from Avenue Q running through my furry little skull yet again! So snappy! So fun! So very appropriate!

The MadPanda, FCD
#132 cbm
June 30, 2008

And this happened in a country that still has a state religion (the Queen is the head of the Anglican church and Defender of the Faith).

While Queen Elizabeth II in her role as the Queen of England is the head of the Anglican church, that role is completely separate from her role as the Queen of Canada.

It gets a little confusing, and even we Canadians usually call her the queen of england; but technically as the head of state in Canada she is the Queen of Canada. In theory, we could have a queen or king that was not the monarch of England; but given both we and England are following the same rules of succession, and we currently are sharing a monarch, this seems unlikely.

Although amongst her Canadian titles she is called the Defender of Faith/D�fenseur de la Foi, she has no religious role to play in Canada. In fact Canada does not have nor has had an established church (during its existence as ‘Canada’ anyway, prior to 1867 I honestly don’t know).

Unfortunately, our constitution, in its preamble, does state:

“Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law”

So, technically, Canada is not a secular country. However, which ‘God’ is not specified. I like to think of my constitution recognizing the supremacy of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (May you be touched by his noodly appendage).

For more details http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarchy_of_Canada is a pretty thorough article.
#133 Tulse
July 1, 2008

technically, Canada is not a secular country.

Yeah, but in a country where gay marriage is legal, where there is absolutely no legal restrictions on abortions, and where in the most populous province women can legally go topless in public, I’d say that “technically” is the right word.
#134 Sudo
July 1, 2008

@ 75 NoB

Unfortunately your assumption about Expelled being one of the top grossing documentaries of all time is faulty. Lets look at the facts::

Openings (per theater) [#of theaters]
~Fahrenheit 9/11 ($27558) [868]
~March of the Penguins ($34373) [4]
~Sicko ($68,969) [1]
~An Inconvenient Truth ($70332) [4]

~Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed ($2824) [1052]

Maybe this is an unfair comparison…that is comparing it to the top grossing documentaries in their openings….

How about::

~Paper Clips {Story about school kids collecting 6 million paper clips} ($5,107) [5]
~The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters {Story about breaking world records on classic arcade games} ($10,298) [5]

Do you know what we call that? Pathetic. Paper clips and arcade game enthusiasts beat Expelled.

So Expelled made $667 per screen in Canada over the weekend? Do you know how much it costs for the AC, the electricity for the lights and speakers, the wages of employees, supplies to clean the place, rent, etc? The answer, much more than $667. Here is a pair of rusty scissors, go cut off your genitals; we cannot afford to have to spread your defective genes.
#135 Carl
July 1, 2008

O’Leary said that she viewed “Expelled” in a half-empty and cold theater. With a take of $24,000 it would seem that only an optimist would regard the theater as being “half-empty”.

Or maybe it was all the picketers outside that made it look fuller than it really was.
#136 Nick Gotts
July 1, 2008

In theory, we could have a queen or king that was not the monarch of England; but given both we and England are following the same rules of succession, and we currently are sharing a monarch, this seems unlikely.

I’ve heard a suggestion recently that the UK (no, not England) should change the rules of succession to be gender-neutral, as Sweden did in 1980. Any of the countries sharing our monarchy which didn’t follow suit could then get their very own monarch (whoop-de-doo!) at some point in future, although currently the first three in line would be the same. However, if the reform was enacted, maybe Princess Anne would consider it worthwhile assassinating her elder brother and his two sons in order to ascend the throne when Queen Never-Die finally goes. Hopefully, we’ll all have got rid of them before the question arises.
#137 andres
July 1, 2008

Does somebody have some actual criticism of the film itself?
#138 Nick Gotts
July 1, 2008

andres@137. Well, it’s a poorly-made, ludicrous and internally incoherent pack of lies, and a gross insult to the victims of the Nazi holocaust, the production of which involved systematic deceit of its interviewees. Of course, that only scratches the surface of its irredeemable vileness.
#139 Kseniya
July 1, 2008

You want criticism? Start here.
#140 Citizen Z
July 1, 2008

andres, for criticism of the film itself, I’d recommend Expelled Exposed. Very thorough. You could also use the searchbox on this blog if you’d like.
#141 NRT
July 1, 2008

Winawer #124

“I’ve got a screenshot of their FAQ page where they were talking about it here (look near the bottom).”

Thanks
I saved a copy of the original page too when I first saw it. Was only a matter of time before it was smothered once word got out!

From the original…

“Welcome to the Expelled Challenge FAQ page
FAQs

Q: When does the movie release?
A: April, 2008

Q: What’s the best way to get our school families to come out to the movies?

A: In speaking with Christian Schools, we’ve found that hosting a school-wide “mandatory” field trip is the best way to maximize your school’s earning potential. Send a field trip home with your middle school and high school students, have each child pay for their own ticket, then collect the stubs at the door once you get to the movie theater. With this model, you also will be able to benefit from the ticket stubs purchased by parents who choose to come as well.”

I’m sure the amount of money paid in bribes to the schools must be officially recorded somewhere outside of the Expelled inner circle.

I guess their funds were running a little too low to offer Canada the same deal.
#142 Andrea
July 1, 2008

A closer look at the $ statistics of documentary films at http://www.boxofficemojo.com/genres/chart/?id=documentary.htm

actually reveals it’s, I think, impossible at this point for “Expelled” to move up at all from No. 12, let alone crack the top 10.

Why? Beacause the numbers you see on the list are (apparently) just the $ grossed in the domestic (US) release. Since “Expelled” is all but vanished from the US, that number can’t get higher.

But, if you click on the individual film titles, you’ll find a breakdown of what money each film made ADDITIONALLY in foreign release. Calculating it that way, “Shine a Light” (with about $12,716,000) is actually #10. “Hoop Dreams”, “Mad Hot Ballroom”, and “Tupac:Resurrection” are 11, 12, and 13 respectively.

“Expelled” and “Roger & Me” are more or less tied for 14th.

It’s got 92 days (I think) to gross about 5 million more dollars. That mean it needs to take in an average of $54,521 A DAY to crack the top ten.

My prediction? It will pull ahead of “Roger & Me” and even move up to the 13 slot (Sorry, Tupac fans!).

But that’s until Michael Moore comes out with his next Blockbuster (back to 14), Bill Maher’s “Religilous” coming out in Oct. (may knock Expelled to 15), and the next great nature documentary with narration by Morgan Freeman (down to 16th it goes), all admittedly just speculation.
#143 Citizen Z
July 1, 2008

But that’s until Michael Moore comes out with his next Blockbuster (back to 14), Bill Maher’s “Religilous” coming out in Oct. (may knock Expelled to 15), and the next great nature documentary with narration by Morgan Freeman (down to 16th it goes), all admittedly just speculation.

Well, it can only go down in the rankings. Unless there’s an Expelled revival. Like the Rocky Horror Picture Show. I apologize if you just pictured Ben Stein in Dr. Frank N Furter garb.
#144 tim gueguen
July 1, 2008

Here in Saskatoon the film is currently playing at the Roxy Rainbow, a second run theatre where the ticket prices are 4 bucks. Interestingly it didn’t play at their sister theatre the Rainbow, which is located in a major shopping mall, versus the Roxy, which is located on 20th St., part of the low income area of Saskatoon’s west side. So some of the potential audience likely don’t even know its playing here.
#145 Kseniya
July 1, 2008

I apologize if you just pictured Ben Stein in Dr. Frank N Furter garb.

goawaymentalimage
#146 Longtime Lurker
July 1, 2008

To put the extent of teh fale of this piece o’ crap, I haven’t even seen bootleg DVDs of it offered for sale on the 4 train.
#147 toujoursdan
July 1, 2008

They are promoting the heck out of this film on CBC Newsworld (like CNN headline news in Canada) during today’s Canada Day celebrations. The promo is airing at every commercial break. It will be interesting to see what happens to the audience next weekend. If it stays low it isn’t for lack of trying (or by playing with peoples’ minds by running ads that make it look like a comedy or something.)
#148 Hap
July 1, 2008

#127: Well, considering the Pope’s past, he may not want to clarify the origins and motivations of the Nazi slaughter.
#149 Nick
July 1, 2008

Reposted from my comment at En Tequila Es Verdad:

When I went to my press screening for the film, I was running behind. I strolled in the door ten minutes late, to find the theatre owner and an employee hanging about the counter. When I introduced myself, one of them said “Oh, I guess we will be running the film, after all.” Turns out I was the only member of the Calgary press who’d shown up.

Good thing, too. Other reviewers might have gotten annoyed by my apoplectic shouting during the screening. It physically hurt to be in that theatre.
#150 Brad D.
July 1, 2008

I am also so proud to be Can… Err, Can I please become a Canadian citizen?
#151 G.E.
July 1, 2008

24k? how could it get that much? 0 would be appropriate, or maybe 24 cents, but 24k? Come on, you are kidding, right?
#152 Jordan
July 1, 2008

Canada doesn’t have a state religion. Queen Elizabeth may be “defender of the faith” in the UK, but as the Queen of Canada (which is a separate position, so to speak) she has no religious role.

There is an Anglican Church in Canada, but the plurality religion in Canada is Roman Catholicism. Almost all of our Prime Ministers for the last 40 years have been very secularized Roman Catholics.
#153 Saskboy
July 2, 2008

We all now know statistically how many Canadians will see a movie, even if they have no idea what it is about. And that number includes those interested in learning more about fake science in a movie theatre.
#154 Colin m
July 3, 2008

damn it. I wanted to see that movie here, especially when the most prominent local papers gave it really, really low scores.

but apparently only one theatre is showing it, and I’d rather save my money to watch Wall-E
#155 Otto
July 6, 2008

Seeing Ben Stein convinced me totally
that evolution is a fact:
No loving god would create anything
that ugly and humorless.
#156 porno izle
September 25, 2008

Thank admin. Very nice interesting main