“Atlas Shrugged”? More like audiences did.
Part III of the epic Aဣyn Rand movie trilogy, subtitled “Who Is John Galt?,” hits theaters Friday — a💝nd it’s a wonder we got this far.
Part I opened back in 2011 with high hopes and a reported budget of $2🦂0 million. Instead, it flopped, got mauled by the critꦓics and only managed to scrape up some $4.6 million at the box office.
“Ayn Rand’s monumental 1,168-page, 1✱957 novel gets the low-budget, no-talent treatment and sits there flapping on screen like a bludgeoned seal,” wrote Peter Travers for Rolling Stone.
For Part II, producers turned to a pওrivate debt sale to raise $16 million needed to fund the fiꦉlm.
Released in 2012, the sequel did worse than the original, earning just $3.3🌠 million against a reported $10 million outlay.
Considering this is an adaptation of a book cherished by🌟 ultra-capitalistic types, the producers seem to have a hard time receiving the message that the market is sending them. (Psst, guys. No one cares about this movie.)
Yet here we are — improbably — at Part III. It wasn’t ꦛscreened for criticꦇs, but a couple snuck into and emerged .
For this, the con🌞clusion of 🉐the series, producers were forced to turn to Kickstarter to raise money. Last year, 3,554 backers donated a total of $446,907 to get the film off the ground. In return, they received various rewards, including having their name appear in the “special thanks” portion of the credits ($1,000) and a chance to have their name carved into the side of John Galt’s house on the set ($7,500).
The trilogy’s dismal box office performance hasn’t stopped a long line of Republican talking heads from lining up for cameos, however. The book and movie tackle themes near and dear to the conservative cause, involving governme⛄nt overreach, personal freedom and the threat of the takers, who are leeching money from productive members of society. (You mean like people who beg for cash on Kickstarter?)
Here’s a rundown of the right-wing names who pop up in the film, perhaps eager to underscore their conservative credentials with the 10 to 12 tea partiers who might buy a ticket t𒊎o the film this we🌄ekend.
