Former Vice President Al Gore’s new film, An Inconvenient Sequel, came in a dismal 15th this weekend at U.S. theaters, according to Box Office Mojo.
Gore’s defenders have been quick to blame Paramount Pictures for the dismal performance of Gore’s sequel. “Al Gore Gets Ripped Off Again,” screamed the headline of D.R. Tucker in Washington Monthly.
“This was not supposed to happen,” Tucker wrote, adding, “he should have demanded a recount.”
“Sadly, the box-office under-performance of An Inconvenient Sequel will be seized upon by climate-change deniers as ‘proof’ that Americans don’t really care about this issue,” Tucker wrote.
According to Deadline Hollywood, Gore’s sequel “grossed $900K, averaging $5,000 (per screen). That brought its cume (cumulative) over seven figures, landing at $1,052,000. Its weekend gross placed it 15th in the overall box office as of Sunday morning. Paramount said it will expand the title to over 500 locations next weekend.
Gore fans like Tucker are now reduced to blaming the distributor.
“A botched strategy by Paramount Pictures effectively sabotaged the nationwide release of the Al Gore documentary An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power, which finished in 15th place in US theatres this weekend. This was not supposed to happen,” Tucker explained.
Many climate activists and Gore apostles were hoping for a re-run of the success of Gore’s 2006 original film or of a Michael Moore style boom at the box office.
Tucker wrote: “Considering the fact that this is arguably the first major anti-Trump documentary to hit theatres–and considering the public outrage over Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris climate agreement–Paramount should have stuck to its original plan; in fact, Paramount could have seized upon anti-Trump sentiment by giving An Inconvenient Sequel the same high-profile national rollout that Lionsgate gave [Michael Moore’s] Fahrenheit 9/11 in 2004, a rollout that resulted in that iconic film opening at #1 at the US box office, a rarity for a documentary.”
“It’s a shame that Paramount dropped the ball, giving the film a ‘national’ release in so few theatres that most Americans must wait until the film is available on demand or on DVD in order to see it,” Tucker explained.