By Dave Andrusko
Just because the following was 100% predictable does not relieve us of the responsibility to see “Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer” and bring family and friends with us. We need to go, and if we already have attended, go again. (You can find out where “Gosnell” is showing by going to gosnellmovie.com/theaters.)
A number of sources, including the co-producers of “Gosnell,” are reporting that “28% of theaters axe ‘Gosnell’ movie even though it’s a hit,” as OneNewsNow headlined their story.
It’s bad enough, according to the Daily Wire, that “Coming into its second week, Gosnell has dropped from 668 theaters to 480 theaters – a full 188 theater drop, 15 of which were top-performing multiplexes.” What makes the drastic reduction so infuriating is that the movie, which opened October 12, made $1,235,000 even though it was showing on only 668 screens first weekend. That made Gosnell one of the 10 top grossing movies.
Michael F. Haverluck, writing for One News Now, carefully examined the rationalizations and explanations. While it may make some sense for smaller theatres with just a few screens to pull Gosnell, in favor of Halloween-themed movies. only bias explains why huge multiplexes, which have up to 20 screens, would drop Gosnell . (Fifteen of the 188 were “top-performing multiplexes,” reported Paul Bois for the Daily Wire.)
“Despite the solid performance for an independent film of this sort, nearly 200 theaters have inexplicably dropped the film – including those in major cities where it was performing the strongest,” Bois continued. “Coming into its second week, Gosnell has dropped from 668 theaters to 480 theaters – a full 188 theater drop, 15 of which were top-performing multiplexes.”
John Sullivan, the marketing director and producer for the film, told Bois that he was “certain that the move to axe his pro-life film was intentional and not merely ‘business as usual’ in the film industry.
“I can tell you from my experience in 15 years of releasing movies independently, we’re in uncharted territories,” Sullivan assured DW. “It is an impacted fall – no doubt about it – but the fact that we’ve been dropped from theaters where the movie is the number six or number nine movie is just something you don’t see.
Sullivan said simply, “It’s hard not to believe it isn’t about the content of the movie.”
Of the theaters that dropped Gosnell, 15 were high-performing theaters, all of which were major chains, Bois reported. He cited these examples:
- AMC Kips Bay #6 out of 15 screens
- AMC Burbank #9 out of 30 screens
- Temecula Stadium #9 out of 15 screens
- AMC Alderwood #9 out of 16 screens
- AMC Methuen 20 #9 out of 20 screens
Sullivan relayed a series of obstacles to the Daily Wire, “One report out of Nashville had people being told the movie sold out simply because they didn’t have the staff to cover the theater, and they chose our theater to do that to. Why? Too many things have stacked up and it just doesn’t smell right.”
Bois cited several examples of Facebook posts where people faced annoying obstacles and blatant unfairness. One user said
“I bought tickets from the kiosk in the theatre lobby. When the photos were displayed in the kiosk screen, every movie had the photo of the movie except Gosnell.”
Another added
“My cineplex did not have any movie posters up for it, no signs over the hallway to the correct theater, I had to ask them where to go.”
The only answer is for us to attend in great numbers. . Again, you can find out where “Gosnell” is showing by going to gosnellmovie.com/theaters.