"Still, after ten days in wide national distribution, Sicko was performing below
expectations. In an interview in Time on May 17, Moore claimed that with Sicko
he was moving beyond the leftist ideology of his previous films and more towards
the political center: 'This film does cut across party lines.' On June 20,
another Time article (like most mainstream media, Time covered Sicko and Moore
repeatedly from every angle) was titled 'Michael Moore: 'I'm Mainstream Now.''
Clearly, Moore and his army of supporters were positioning the film for
mainstream acceptance and hit status beyond Fahrenheit 9/11's-his previous film
and the most successful money-making documentary in the history of motion
pictures.
But the box office numbers tell the story: In Sicko's
first three day weekend after it opened nationally on June 29 in 702 theaters,
its total gross was $3,600,179 or an average of $5,128 per theater. Fahrenheit
9/11 opened in 868 theaters on June 23, 2004 and grossed $23,920,637 over that
three day weekend, for an average of $27,558 per screen-more than five times the
per screen take for Sicko. Fahrenheit ultimately grossed $119,194,771 during a
114 day theatrical run in the U.S."
Maybe this is why he has been in such a cranky mood lately.
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