Fahrenheit 9/11: Encyclopedia II - Fahrenheit 9/11 - Film release and box office

Fahrenheit 9/11 - Film release and box office

On its opening weekend of June 25–June 27, this film generated box-office revenue of $23.9 million in the U.S. and Canada, making it the weekend's top-grossing film, despite having been screened in only 868 theaters (many of the weekend's other top movies played on over 2,500 screens). Its opening weekend earned more than the entire U.S. theatrical run of any other feature-length documentary (including Moore's previous film, Bowling for Columbine). The film was released in France on July 7, 2004 and in the UK on July 9, 2004.

During the weekend of July 24, 2004, the film passed the $100 million mark in box-office receipts, again an unprecedented amount for a feature-length political documentary.

Moore credited part of this success to the efforts of conservative groups to pressure theaters not to run the film, conjecturing that these efforts backfired by creating publicity. There were also efforts by liberal groups such as MoveOn.org to encourage attendance in order to defy their political opponents' contrary efforts.

Partly because of the success of the film, it was widely debated what effect it would have on George W. Bush's chances of re-election. Despite Moore's energetic campaign in favor of Democratic challenger John Kerry, Bush was re-elected to a second term on November 2, 2004, albeit with a narrower margin of votes than any sitting US president in American history. Nonetheless, Bush's critics hoped that the success of the film was an indication of wide public support for more open debate on the Bush administration's policies. Furthermore, it was hoped that it would give heart to people who disagreed with Bush's policies, but felt their views were being marginalized.

On November 12, 2004, Moore announced his intention to produce a sequel to the film, to be entitled Fahrenheit 9/11 1/2. In an interview with Daily Variety, he stated, "We want to get cameras rolling now and have it ready in two, three years. We want to document it. Fifty-one percent of the American people lacked information [in this election] and we want to educate and enlighten them. They weren't told the truth. We're communicators and it's up to us to start doing it now. The official mourning period is over today and there is a silver lining — George W. Bush is prohibited by law from running [for presidency] again."

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Film release and box office", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki