Thoughts in a Haystack

It seems you can't kill a stinker either:

The controversial film "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" will be re-released theatrically this summer across the United States to celebrate the film's legal victory over Yoko Ono, according to the documentary's producers. ...

"We had many individuals and groups who had planned to see the film, but decided not to because the cloud of doubt this lawsuit brought to the film," noted one of the film's producers, John Sullivan.

A lawsuit about a copyright is a "cloud"? In any event, the producers seem to have a little difficulty with numbers:

"We came out of the gate with strong momentum only to have our integrity questioned by this frivolous lawsuit. While we're thrilled with the film's having earned nearly $8 million during its first run; we've heard from enough people and groups who want to see it in their theaters that we've agreed to re-release it this time without an undeserved cloud over its head." ...

"We will not be silenced. In fact it will have the opposite effect: we will re-release it and allow millions of Americans to go to the box office and register their vote against Ms. Ono and her attempt to keep them from watching our film."

Now let's see ... at an average of $8 a ticket nowadays (even now the producers say that the film "will be made available to any group of 250-300 people at a cost of low as $6 per ticket"), it seems that millions didn't pay to see it the first time, despite that alleged "strong momentum." Why it would be expected to do any better the second time around is anyone's guess. Nor is it clear that they are actually distributing it to theaters. They may just be making prints available for private groups to show at rented theaters.

Still, it demonstrates that the producers have made the judgment that there is a ready market for stupid ... and that they're just the people to meet the demand.
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