Anti-War Films Bombing at Box Office

By Rick Moran

The spate of anti-war, anti-Iraq, anti Administration films flooding the theaters this fall feature Academy star power, top of the line production values, and big advertising budgets.

But getting fannies in the seats seems to be a problem:

Both "In the Valley of Elah" and, more recently, "Rendition" drew minuscule crowds upon their release, which doesn't bode well for the ongoing stream of films critical of the Iraq war and the Bush administration's wider war on terror.

"Rendition," which features three Oscar winners in key roles, grossed $4.1 million over the weekend in 2,250 screens for a ninth-place finish. A re-release of "The Nightmare Before Christmas" beat it, and it's 14 years old.

It appears that even with their favorite actors on screen, audiences still don't like to be preached to - something Hollywood never learns. "Critically acclaimed" anti-war films are usually only seen by anti-war critics. Audiences, who tend to be a little more sophisticated than your average film critic and already know that war is bad, refuse to be lectured by a bunch of multi-millionaire dilletantes whose views are no more and no less informed than theirs.

Scheduled for release in the next several weeks:

Hollywood's antiwar drive continues Nov. 9 with "Lions for Lambs," in which Tom Cruise, Miss Streep and Robert Redford spar over matters of patriotism and war. And "Grace is Gone" follows a father (John Cusack, no shrinking violet when it comes to his anti-administration rhetoric off-screen) who can't bear to tell his children their soldier-mother died in Iraq.

And just in time for Christmas, Brian de Palma's* admitted piece of propaganda "Redacted" that tells a the story of a typical military unit in the United States Army - at least according to the left. The film portrays the horrific rape of a 14 year old girl and the murder of her family.

Sounds like your typical Hollywood family holiday movie.

* de Palma, not Martin Scorcese (as erroneously first posted) is the director. We apologize to Mr. Scorcese for the mistake.