Disney is telling subsidiary Miramax not to release Michael Moore’s latest Bush-bashing movie. (Do any of Moore’s movies actually make any money.) Miramax says Disney is stepping over the bounds of an agreement on when Disney can make such a decision. Moore’s agent says Disney is afraid of losing tax breaks in Florida where Jeb Bush is governor. Disney denies that. Gee, who do I believe?
It’s also interesting that Moore had originally partnered with Mel Gibson’s Icon Productions. Icon says it pulled out because they didn’t think the project was right for them, not for political reasons. I’m a little surprised that Gibson would want to be involved with Moore in any way in the first place. Maybe their rejection was just them coming to their senses.
Moore once again shows himself to be the intellectual lightweight he is.
Mr. Moore, who will present the film at the Cannes film festival this month, criticized Disney’s decision in an interview on Tuesday, saying, “At some point the question has to be asked, ‘Should this be happening in a free and open society where the monied interests essentially call the shots regarding the information that the public is allowed to see?’”
We don’t live in a socialist, centrally controlled society. We live in a free market society, where companies are free to decide what products to risk their owners’/shareholders’ capital on. Hey Michael, if the public wants to see your product then distribute it yourself and get enough of them together to pay for it yourself. Why should Disney and its shareholders do it for you?
Liberals always equate disapproval and disgust with censorship, and tolerance with approval.
Dom:
For the types of movies that they are (i.e. political documentaries), Moore’s movies are wildly popular. ROGER AND ME made $7 million in 1989; BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE made $21 million in 2002, the latter being the most-successful documentary of all time (the film he made in between, THE BIG ONE, did poorly, and his TV work was also unsuccessful). While those figures would barely cover the star’s salary on a big-budget studio release, Moore’s movies are of a type that is very cheap to make.
This may be heresy to say, but I think ROGER AND ME is a great film, and I’ve written an essay on Moore’s career here.
Thanks, Victor, for clearing that up. I think that bolsters my argument even more: if his movies make money then he should go find someone who wants to distribute them. If Disney doesn’t want his money, then I’m sure someone else will. It’s the free market of ideas.
Just read that a European consortium is approaching Mel Gibson to jointly buy (takeover) Disney, and to have Mel Gibson run the company! Just think – Disney would finally become truly family friendly! (But I can’t imagine that if this is true, Gibson would say yes…)