Say, did you know that Al Gore released a sequel to his Inconvenient Truth movie about climate change? If not, you’re not alone. It seems that most of the country wasn’t aware that it was in the theaters either. Showbiz 411 has posted the initial numbers for the new release and from the looks of things, that movie isn’t generating enough revenue to fuel up Gore’s private jet for the flight to accept his inevitable Oscar award.
So “An Inconvenient Sequel” has been a box office dud so far. After 17 days in release, Gore’s follow up has made just $2 million at the box office. Compare that with $5 million for the original in the same time frame. The sequel has turned out to be very inconvenient at least financially.
Times have changed since the first movie. Climate change is still an urgent issue. But Gore perhaps ran into more pressing problems playing out on CNN and other real news networks– Neo Nazis, North Korea, and a crazy president who doesn’t believe in any of Gore’s — and scientists’– theories.
Those are some brutal numbers and the report is coming from someone who is an admitted fan of Gore’s (he gave the original film five stars) and openly mocks President Trump. Two million dollars at the box office in more than two weeks? I realize documentaries (if you want to refer to this in that category) don’t produce huge paydays more than once in a blue moon, but that’s spectacularly bad. Of course, on the plus side, it’s still doing at least as well as Miss Sloanewhich only wound up doing $3.5M domestically for its entire 39 day run. (The total take, including international markets was $6.6M.)
It’s really not all that inappropriate to compare the two films in other ways either. People go to the movies to be entertained, not lectured. And they like subject matter which speaks to them and elicits an emotional or intellectual response. What would be more popular between a fictional study in the thrilling genre of a lobbyist trying to get a bill passed and a guy scolding you about your carbon footprint? Apparently it’s a pretty close call.
It looks as if this film won’t come close to breaking even. (Total production costs weren’t listed, but you can’t assemble a film of any decent technical quality for less than a few million. Miss Sloane cost more than $25M to make.) If you were looking for a review of the film here I can’t actually help you out because I was, er… busy mowing my lawn when it opened. But do yourself a favor and watch this review of the film from The Onion, where their film critic describes how Al Gore’s movie led he and his wife to enter into an open marriage. It’s got to be substantially more entertaining than the actual film.
Flogging a dead horse to death, saw the first and was impressed since then I have become acquainted with the facts and I have to say he is wasting his time, either we are beyond the tipping point, or there are other factors in play, and no amount of cutting carbon is going to make any difference
