The biopic about Ronald Reagan exceeded expectations with a box office hit in its opening weekend, despite criticism from liberal critics.
Regan earned $7.4 million in box office revenue from Friday through Sunday, and had an estimated cumulative total of $9.2 million – including projections for Labor Day Monday, reports the Christian Post.
The film finished third at the box office over the long weekend, behind Deadpool & Wolverine and Alien, and earned a 98 percent approval rating among moviegoers. on Rotten Tomatoes.
That’s in stark contrast to the film’s meager 18 percent approval rating from film critics, making it the largest gap between critics and audiences in Hollywood history.
“We are proud to have our first film in the top five in a competitive market over the long weekend,” said Kevin Mitchell, president of the recently launched Showbiz Direct, which released the film on 2,750 screens.
Regan earned $7.4 million in box office revenue from Friday through Sunday, and had an estimated cumulative total of $9.2 million
It also received a 98 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, despite a 22 percent approval rating from critics
“We expect the film to gain even more traction in the coming weeks, particularly in the South and Midwest,” he said.
The film follows Reagan’s journey from his humble small-town childhood to Hollywood stardom and ultimately to the 40th President of the United States.
The focus is on Reagan’s resilience and the support of his wife Nancy. The story is told by a fictional former KGB agent whose life intersects with Reagan’s during his time as a Hollywood star.
But the biopic had problems from the start.
Originally set for release in 2023, Reagan faced production delays due to COVID lockdowns and an actors’ strike.
Dennis Quaid, who plays the title role of the president, also said that during production of the film “there were a few attempts to cancel me.”
Dennis Quaid, who plays the titular president, told podcaster Joe Rogan that people tried to cancel him during production of the film
He then podcaster Joe Rogan told that Facebook even censored online promotion of the film over fears it could “influence the election,” though the platform later attributed the “error” to its “automatic systems.”
“This happened because our automated systems incorrectly determined that content about President Reagan required prior approval under our policies for advertising about social issues, elections or politics,” a spokesperson for the social network said. told Newsweek after sharing a letter from Quaid.
“This was an error and the restriction on ads has been lifted.”
Following the film’s release this weekend, critics also raved about the film’s portrayal of the Republican president.
“Regardless of how you feel about Ronald Reagan, the president, most will agree that this biopic is a preachy, laborious, clumsy groan,” said Nick Schager wrote for the Daily Beast.
He called it “clumsy and transparent to the point of seeming like shameful propaganda.”
Similarly, Boston Globe critic Odie Henderson said wrote that it’s “so sanitized that it feels as if Darryl Zanuck or Reagan’s old boss Jack Warner had pasted it on screen in 1940.”
The film focuses on Reagan’s resilience and the support of his wife Nancy, and is narrated by a fictional former KGB agent whose life intersects with Reagan’s during his time as a Hollywood star.
Henderson said the film “plays to evangelical Christians.”
“This means you have to listen to self-righteous drivel about how Reagan was appointed by Jesus to defeat those godless communists and student protesters in Berkeley,” he criticized.
Robert Abele also wrote for the Los Angeles Times that Quaid “is simply an imitation doll, a sturdy shell hiding a hollow portrait, tailor-made for religious conservatives with limited knowledge of history and no tolerance for nuance.”
But many who saw the film over the long weekend were very complimentary about it.
“Very patriotic,” one audience member wrote on Rotten Tomatoes.
Another said it was ‘a biopic’ [which] highlights many important experiences in Reagan’s life.
“Many of the facts are disturbing to the left, but for a biography it’s very good,” she wrote. “Not many presidents would deserve such a film.”
A third moviegoer also said he/she loved this movie
“What a man of conviction and courage!!,” the reviewer wrote of the former president.
‘He stood up for what he believed in and was not influenced by political consequences.’
Actor Dennis Quaid attributes the film’s success to Reagan’s popularity on both sides of the political spectrum
Quaid now attributes the film’s success to Reagan’s popularity on both sides of the political spectrum.
“The main thing is that we engage in dialogue,” he said.
“I think that’s what we need to get back to in this country,” Quaid continued. “We all seem to want it and we’re trying to figure out how to do it.
‘It’s been so long, there’s so much division, it’s like you can’t have these conversations.
“It’s okay if you have a different opinion because we all want the same thing,” he continued. “The way we go about it is just different.”
DailyWire CEO Jeremy Boreing also told the Christian Post that the left has a tendency to label any form of opposition as divisive.
“Reagan was the most unifying figure running for president in the lifetimes of most of us here today. Who can claim 49 states in a re-election bid?” he asked.
Boreing went on to discuss censorship from the right: “We have never seen in this country an expression of informational political power like we have seen in the last 45 days.
‘And it’s easy to get discouraged. It’s easy to lose hope. It’s easy to look around the world at the worst examples of where this kind of thing can lead and think that we’re doomed to repeat them.
“I don’t think that’s the case at all. I think we’re called to be optimistic.
“And when we see the success of having someone like Reagan still alive, we all have to realize that.”