Uh-oh. It looks like Robert Redford’s new movie Truth” is in fact, off to a bad start at the box office. The film opened in select theaters on October 16. Per The Hollywood Reporter:
One high-profile title that’s off to a poor start is Truth, starring Robert Redford as ousted CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather and Cate Blanchett as disgraced 60 Minutes producer Mary Mapes. The Sony Pictures Classics release opened to $76,646 from six locations in New York and Los Angeles for a theater average of $12,024.
Forbes was a little more direct in their assessment of the movie:
The film should earn around $60k for the weekend and mediocre $10k p.s.a. At this point, with plenty of other buzzier Oscar options already out (Steve Jobs) and still to come (Concussion, The Hateful Eight, etc.), this one is pretty much toast unless something changes.
Granted, the movie only opened in select theaters, and maybe the fact that Rather’s old employer CBS refused to air ads for the movie played a part in the weak opening (doubt it!), but the negative publicity surrounding a film supposedly based on “truth” makes it sound more like a film based on lies.
The “truth” in question was a story aired by 60 Minutes on former President George W. Bush’s service in the National Guard before the 2004 presidential election. Included in the story were what would later be determined as forged documents and and eventually lead to the firing of both Rather and Mapes.
The movie is based on Mapes’ book, Truth and Duty: The Press, the President, and the Privilege of Power.
Rather says the movie “is a fascinating multi-layered story about media, big corporations and their political allies, propaganda, betrayal, it’s a really good story …”
Even if the film is a "really good story," moviegoers who are silly enough to buy a ticket shouldn’t go into it thinking it bears much resemblance to the truth.
