'Fahrenheit 9/11' Heats Up N.Y. Theaters

June 24, 2004 -- Michael Moore was still grousing about the R rating for Fahrenheit 9/11, even as the film set box-office records in New York today, a day ahead of the controversial documentary's national release.

Online ticket service Fandango.com reported Moore's Bush-bashing film, which began showing Wednesday in two New York theaters, was making up 48 percent of its national advance ticket sales for the coming weekend — compared to 11 percent for Dodgeball, last week's No. 1 movie, and 9 percent for next week's powerhouse opening of Spider-Man 2.

"It seems there was not a Republican in the house, judging by all the applause," said a woman at one of the first public screenings Wednesday night, at Lincoln Plaza Theater in Manhattan.

Lion's Gate Films, one of the distributors of the documentary, said it opened the film at two New York theaters to promote good word-of-mouth publicity before Friday, when the film will begin playing in 868 theaters across the country.

Theater managers at Lincoln Plaza reported the film raked in $30,000 Wednesday to make it the movie house's biggest one-day draw, topping Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in 2000.

Loew's Village 7 Theater, the other New York venue showing Moore's film, said Fahrenheit 9/11 topped the single-day record of $43,000, set by 1997's Men in Black.

Controversy may be helping Fahrenheit 9/11, just as it helped The Passion of the Christ, which has earned $370 million at the box office, making it the second-largest grossing film of the year, behind Shrek 2.

Reviews have been mixed, but the Oscar-winning filmmaker is clearly benefiting from his notoriety as a left-wing political agitator.

"Controversy? … What Controversy?" asks the tagline on movie posters.

Mixing Pop Culture and Commentary

In Fahrenheit 9/11, Moore mixes pop culture and commentary to slam the administration's policies on the wars on terror and in Iraq. It's the same technique he used in Bowling for Columbine, the film that gave him the platform to lash out at President Bush and the war in Iraq at last year's Academy Awards.

To the tune of R.E.M.'s "Shinny Happy People," Moore tells his account of how the Bush and bin Laden families became so close and forged multimillion-dollar business ties in the international oil business.

Immediately after the Sept. 11 attack, why did the federal government allow more than 100 members of the bin Laden family to be whisked out of the United States? Is that any way to run an investigation? Moore asks.

Even on TV, detectives interview innocent family members of the lead suspect in a crime, Moore points out, cutting to shots of TV gumshoe Joe Friday from Dragnet.

In one of Moore's trademark ambush interviews, Moore plays Army recruiter to enlist the children of lawmakers, after reporting that only one congressman has a kid serving in the military.

In another stunt, the filmmaker rides around the capital reading the U.S.A. Patriot Act over the public address system of an ice cream truck, after quoting a congressman who claims his colleagues voted on the law without reading it.

In Washington today, Moore rallied supporters in an appearance with some members of the Black Congressional Caucus.

"I'm hoping this film does something to inspire those people who are not thinking of voting to come out," he said.

"Trust me, if there was a real draft with no exemptions, there would be no wars, unless it was for the absolute self-defense of the country, because the rich are never going to sacrifice their children, the powerful are never going to do that."

Riled Over Rating

Even with all signs pointed toward a big opening, Moore continued to protest the film's R rating. "I've never heard of an R rating given to a film because of the politics in the film and because we don't want our children to see it," he told ABC Radio.

The Motion Picture Association of America rejected a last-minute appeal to overturn its rating, which it attributed to violence and strong language.

"I encourage all teenagers to come see my movie, by any means necessary," Moore said. "If you need me to sneak you in, let me know."

One group opposed to the film, MoveAmericaForward.com, has launched an e-mail campaign against theaters that show the film. The group's Web site lists movie chains and independent venues that will be showing the movie.

Rick Winston, co-owner of the Savoy Theater in Washington, claims he's getting 500 to 700 e-mails a day, many of them from the West Coast, the Deep South and the Midwest.

"It's funny, getting a letter from Georgia, from someone saying they will never set foot in my theater if I show this movie," Winston said.

At a star-studded premiere in Washington on Wednesday, Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe walked the red carpet and was thrilled by the thought of this film getting some traction in an election year.

"This movie raises a lot of the issues that Americans are talking about, that George Bush has been asleep at the switch since he's been president," McAuliffe said.