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Is Sicko a bit...unhealthy?

Kim Hollis: Sicko fell 19% to $3.7 million this weekend despite expanding 60% to 702 play dates. It has earned $11.5 million thus far. Why do you believe it is not doing better? Do you envision any sort of recovery as it expands further?

Joel Corcoran: The subject matter in Sicko - deplorable health care - simply doesn't have the sexy divisiveness and conflict as gun control (Bowling for Columbine). Nor is this film anywhere near as controversial as Fahrenheit 9/11. And maybe Roger Moore should just stick to releasing films six months before Presidential elections - that seems to work better for him.

Reagen Sulewski: Well honestly, it's not that bad a performance at all for that kind of expansion. It's more or less in line with the "Rule of Two-Thirds" for significant expansions - it halved its per screen while moving into some more marginal territories. And lest we forget how much of an outlier Fahrenheit 9/11 was, Bowling For Columbine topped out at $21 million, which this one is already at half of. An Inconvenient Truth made $23 million. It did it a little more organically, if you'll pardon the pun, but it chugged along at a couple mil a week, and while I doubt this film will stay until October, it's got a good chance to get to that mark. As advocacy docs go, this is still way up there. I think we're all just gotten spoiled by how well F 9/11 did.

Tim Briody: Forget Fahrenheit 9/11 ever happened. $11.5 million for a documentary that has been in release for two weeks is fan-fricking-tastic. It's already one of the top ten grossing documentaries ever. It's a Big Mac shy of Super Size Me's total, and Michael Moore will have three of the top five ever after next weekend. Stupid question.





Joel Corcoran: I don't think it's a stupid question at all, but you've glanced off an important distinction, Tim. I was looking at Sicko solely in the context of Michael Moore's past work. And there's even an argument to be made that "Michael Moore documentaries" are off in a category by themselves apart from "documentaries in general." Sicko is on par with Super-Size Me, but it's already falling far short of Bowling for Columbine. Given the tremendous box office performance of Fahrenheit 9/11, I think Sicko is falling short of expectations.

Reagen Sulewski: Fahrenheit 9/11 was the result of a number of fortuitous circumstances that really aren't in effect for Sicko, including yes, the impending election. Expecting that kind of result to continue was frankly unrealistic. As far as falling well behind Bowling For Columbine, I don't see that that's the case. Even if it doesn't expand another screen, it's going to be at $15 million by next weekend, about $18 the weekend after, and $20 million by no later than two weeks after that. Calling this a disappointment would be like calling a 25 TD season from LaDainian Tomlinson a disappointment.

Kim Hollis: It's not a disappointment by any means, but somehow it seems like it should have done better. Clearly, health care isn't the hot button issue it deserves to be. No matter what, it's still going to be a remarkable documentary performance (that will be surpassed by Arctic Tale in a few weeks).

Amanda Jones: Forgetting Fahrenheit 9/11 is kind of silly. Without Moore's name behind it, Sicko would be nothing. An astonishing performance from a documentary, yeah. But if you or I had made it? It'd be at $914 in total box office on one screen. Sexiness of the issue is immaterial. It's Moore's applicability and sexiness that matters here. Nothing else.

Max Braden: Fahrenheit 9/11 presented itself as a treasure trove of secret knowledge - "the stuff the networks won't show you." But everyone knows the healthcare system is a mess, and Sicko isn't much more than a testimonial piece with material we're all familiar with on our own or through the network news. Also, Fahrenheit 9/11 featured a polarizing central figure - Bush as the villain - which Sicko lacks.

I'd expect regular business as it expands on the strength of Moore's name, but no special surge in box office as its available to more audiences.

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