All 11 Megaplex Theaters To Pull Witnesses On Thursday

[Everybody Wang Chung]

Unless something changes, Thursday will be the last day all Megaplex Theaters are showing "Witnesses."

I wonder if the other theaters will follow suit or if they stop showing the film sooner?

I wish I knew more about the movie industry. Is this normal, good news or bad news?

[Gadianton]

I feel like I did a disservice to the film by not predicting some of the pitfalls and warning SeN about it.

Here is the movie description on IMDB:

For nearly 200 years, skeptics and critics have been trying to explain away what many Book of Mormon witnesses stated-that they had seen angels and hefted golden metal plates containing ancient inscriptions.

that's a terrible way to promote the film to non-members. good heavens.

[Ramus_Stein]

Yeah, I can't say that this is a good way to sell a movie. Stuff about "critics"? Who cares? How unfortunate! They really needed someone other than an LDS apologist to write their promotional materials. I mean, how can you take a story about angels, gold books, and treasure diggers and make it sound completely boring? Let an apologist describe it to you.

[Everybody Wang Chung]

Maybe outside of Utah, they should have promoted the film as "The Movie Mormons Don't Want You To See."

That would have sold tickets.

[Doctor Scratch]

According to this website, "Witnesses" has only managed to pull in $155,000 in box office receipts, which falls far short of the total needed to finance another movie, let alone cover the costs of this one.

[Everybody Wang Chung]

According to this website, "Witnesses" has only managed to pull in $155,000 in box office receipts, which falls far short of the total needed to finance another movie, let alone cover the costs of this one.

Ouch! Also keep in mind that those box office proceeds have to be shared with the movie theater. The total amount that the movie has made is probably closer to $40,000.

[Shulem]

If the theatres are pulling the movie then that means they aren't making enough money and they don't forecast making enough money to keep playing it in an empty theatre.

The whole movie was a dumb idea in the first place. Stoopid.

That's my take.

[Lem]

Maybe outside of Utah, they should have promoted the film as "The Movie Mormons Don't Want You To See."

That would have sold tickets.

Peterson reads your posts pretty obsessively, doesn't he? Here's his response to your post made an hour ago:

In my immediately previous post, I observed that the Interpreter Foundation’s Witnesses film is being “review bombed” over on the
“Rotten Tomatoes” site by critics who have been giving it the lowest possible score a half-star on the RT five-star scale in
order to depress its audience rating. A reader of this blog, responding to that fact, suggested a new advertising slogan for
the movie along the lines of the one that I’ve used in my title, above....

[blog entry title:] See the Movie that Enemies of the Church Don’t Want You to See!
JUNE 5, 2021 BY DAN PETERSON • 20 COMMENTS

"along the lines..."

[Gadianton]

...I mean, how can you take a story about angels, gold books, and treasure diggers and make it sound completely boring? Let an apologist describe it to you.

epic.

Okay, let me just tell them this, if they need a little more information. "critics have long..." might work for UFOs or a few other things, but that's because people already have a bias in favor of UFOs and against skeptics. they have no similar bias against "skeptics" in the context of the Book of Mormon.

[Dr Moore]

According to this website, "Witnesses" has only managed to pull in $155,000 in box office receipts, which falls far short of the total needed to finance another movie, let alone cover the costs of this one.

Ouch! Also keep in mind that those box office proceeds have to be shared with the movie theater. The total amount that the movie has made is probably closer to $40,000.

I believe exhibition will take 30-50% depending on the studio relationship.