Glenn Beck's movie flops, and badly

by Susan Marie Kovalinsky | December 5, 2009 at 07:36 am

1720 views | 41 Recommendations | 15 comments

Glenn Becks's movie of redemption has not redeemed itself in sales. Based on his book, "The Christmas Sweater: A Return to Redemption", Beck's movie went out to theaters nationally. Sales in New York and Boston numbered 17 tickets per state. Washington , DC saw ticket sales of 30.

The movie had been heavily promoted on Fox, but apparently no one was interested in it. It details biographical stories of Beck's. His play version of the film was protested at NYU in Manhattan. (See Now Public story here.)

Last night, Fox News host Glenn Beck premiered his new live show based on his book The Christmas Sweater, which was simulcast to hundreds of movie theaters across the country. Sponsor Fathom Events called it a “once in a lifetime event,” during which “Glenn will tell you about the real life events that inspired him to write” the book, play clips from his 2008 national tour, and “share stories of the overwhelming response he received.”
Despite heavy promotion on Beck’s radio and TV shows, and in-theater trailers, ticket sales were weak in major cities: Beck sold only 17 tickets in Boston, another 17 in New York, and just 30 in Washington, DC. Raw Story reports that, while sales were better in more conservative areas, even Seattle — which is near Beck’s hometown — couldn’t muster a strong crowd.

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a211423

at 07:59 on December 5th, 2009

According to wiki, 2.5-3 million viewers tune in to watch Glenn Beck every night. The absence of his base at the movie theaters must tell us something about them. It could be they are not interested in Beck as a person, but rather associate only with his shock entertainment persona of evaluating current events.

Beck wants to be more to them, but they appear to not be interested in his "intimate journey of transformation" or "compassionate Conservative" side, if that is what the movie portrays. (I have not seen the movie, so this is supposition.)

Who are these people who relish the shock, but decline intimacy? We decry his methods of information delivery, and he would not exist without his viewers. They define him more than he defines himself.

YankeeJim

at 08:28 on December 5th, 2009

He should read my memoir post. People don't care about egocentricity.

Susan Marie Kovalinsky

at 08:01 on December 5th, 2009

Wow, you are correct, A: And this must be an awful lesson for Beck to be learning. In a sense, he is being used by his listeners; and yes, they have no intimate interest in him as a person, obviously. : ( Like he always says, "Too bad." :(

aurealeus

at 08:04 on December 5th, 2009

Obviously Beck's viewers are more interested in Beck's message than they are the messenger.

Hugh Askew

at 08:57 on December 5th, 2009

Must have been heavily promoted.......this is the first i knew there was a movie.

Amy Judd

at 10:25 on December 5th, 2009

I didn't even know he had a movie...

Susan Marie Kovalinsky

at 15:21 on December 5th, 2009

It is a movie, grrrrr.............

Susan Marie Kovalinsky

at 15:42 on December 5th, 2009

Yes, it was a live show, but the film in the theaters flopped. No one wanted to see his silly face.

Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 15:55 on December 5th, 2009

The other side of the story:

GLENN: Last night we were out at a theater, Skirballs is the name of it, and we were at this theater at NYU last night. I said over a year ago, why would we book a theater at NYU. They said, oh, it's a good theater, blah, blah‑blah. And I said, it's at NYU. And they said, no, but it will be great. And I said, it's at NYU! And this is before Van Jones and his henchmen were all set to do everything in their power to destroy me. I just report the facts. They're in the politics of destruction. And so we thought, you know, this is going to be a nightmare. And as it turns out, it wasn't. Well, it was a nightmare because it's at NYU.

GLENN: They had a big meeting, what was it, the day before yesterday. Didn't even invite the guy who signed the contract for me. We rented this theater. It was a private party. We didn't invite anybody because we knew it was at NYU. So we didn't sell tickets or make it open to the public. We just invited a bunch of people because I didn't want a bunch of protestors there for, you know ‑‑

Barry ORegan

at 06:33 on December 6th, 2009

It flopped, most likely because the lack of T&A , Mel Gibson, Al Gore and Apache attack helicopters.

Tallguy (not verified)

at 12:13 on December 8th, 2009

its funny because i haven't heard Beck comment yet on neither his radio show nor his television broadcast as to what his take is on the low numbers? Perhaps he'll blame Obama for deturring people from going to see his show? Maybe Keith Oberman is to blame somehow? be assured, that instead of accepting responsibility , or realitiy for that matter, Beck will create a conspiracy theory and encourage his listeners to "not let them keep you quiet! Rise up! Rise up everyone and do what George Washington wants us to do! Revolution!!" ...uh ya NO Glen...its not a conspiracy, simply either FOX and your affiliates are trumping up (i.e. faking) the actually number of followers you have...or people see you for who you really are...a flawed entertainer..

Tallguy (not verified)

at 12:16 on December 8th, 2009

OMG...no sooner than i finished my post, did i read above, Becks answer for the sorry showing at his show...Van Jones and his henchmen kept people from coming...and in fact, they didn't even WANT to sell any tickets cuz its "NYU"...excuses excuses... amazing..

Soho46 (not verified)

at 08:56 on December 14th, 2009

Well, it's kind of like when you see a clown at the circus. Very entertaining, but would you really want to spend money to go see a movie he wrote? Nope! Well, maybe if the movie had a bunch of clowns in it. :oD And Van Jones sure must have lots of "henchmen" if he was able to cover NY, Boston, and DC. Beck should have just filmed 90 minutes of the same inane drivel he spews out on his show every day, and invited Sarah Palin to sign books at each of the theaters. I'm not so ready to give most of Beck's viewers/listeners credit for anything, not as long as they help keep his programs on the air.

SmokinScott (not verified)

at 22:50 on December 26th, 2009

SmokinScott (not verified)

at 23:06 on December 26th, 2009

I brought my son to it and there was about 80 to 100 other people there too. So, I'd like to know how they came up with the math for Boston. Liberals are such HATERS. Glenn Beck is friggin AWESOME. I used to like Bill O'Reilly but , he's too much of an Obama apologist. If it wasn't for Glenn Beck calming me down ... I'd be in jail or dead from killing as many Democrats as I could. I'm sick and tired of liberal rally's that turn into riots , but it's okay for you people , but if it was a Republican rally gone wild then ...OMG look at the crazy right-wingers. Such a double standered. If you douchebags take away anymore of our American rights , I'm going to stop watching Glenn Beck and going to Church and I'll show you how to REALLY get violent. Now , you scumbags expect me and every religious person to pay for abortions in this socialist healthcare bill , That ain't gonna fly... If I'm going to hell for my tax dollars going to kill babies...then I'm taking thousands of you liberal losers with me. P.S. nobody buys keith oberman's gear or even watches his crappy show ,so I doubt he could even make a friggin movie. So quit hatin on Glenn. Maybe people couldn't afford to see Beck's movie cuz they didn't have any money left , after paying for all these Obama socialist taxes and BS programs. If you bums had a job , then you wouldn't be on here talkin crap about ONE thing a Great Man didn't make tons of money at WHILE SKIPPING OVER THE FACT THAT HE'S ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE ON T.V. and you'd definately NOT be socialists anymore. You wanted a war...you're about to get one ! Go live in France and see how great socialism is. We've been too nice to people. We've given all the crazy , socialy awkward people too much. I guess it's true that "you give 'em an inch and they take a mile". The kindness has been correctally taken as a weakness , but no longer. No more gay rights....no more equal opportunity...no more fair wages for woman...no more free rides for illegals...no more illegals...no more welfare. Get ready for a little JUSTICE. You should've just took the equalness and let the playing feild be fair.... no you couldn't do it could you. Your days are numbered. And, I'm not talking about just my mass murder fantasy. You'll regret your socialist ways.