- LOS ANGELES (Reuters)
- Film director Michael Moore's anti-Bush documentary "Fahrenheit
9/11" will hit U.S. theaters on June 25 after backers Bob and Harvey
Weinstein struck distribution deals for the controversial, Cannes festival
award-winning film, the parties said on Tuesday.
-
- Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. and IFC Films, major players
in the arena for independent movies, will release Moore's movie to theaters,
and cable television network Showtime will handle the sale of rights for
pay-TV.
-
- "Fahrenheit 9/11" caused a firestorm of publicity
in May after the Walt Disney Co. refused to allow its Miramax Films unit,
which is run by the Weinstein brothers, to release the movie to theaters
claiming it was too politically charged.
-
- "Fahrenheit 9/11," which won the coveted Palm
d'Or, the top prize at last month's prestigious Cannes film festival, looks
at America's reaction to the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center
and Pentagon.
-
- And it attempts to link President Bush and his family
to powerful Saudis, including the family of Osama bin Laden.
-
- "I think, for a large segment of the population,
it is going to be a must-see film," said Jon Feltheimer, Lions Gate
chief executive. "Forget the controversy, if you look at the body
of Michael Moore's work. It's really good filmmaking."
-
- IFC Entertainment President Jonathan Sehring echoed much
of Feltheimer's sentiment and said his company has a mission of being a
place where independent filmmakers can come to get their voices heard by
a wide audience.
-
- "This film will cause debate, but that is also what
this country is founded on," Sehring said.
-
- MOORE'S VOICE
-
- Moore won the U.S. film industry's top honor, the Oscar,
for 2002 documentary "Bowling for Columbine" about gun use, and
at the ceremony that is watched by millions of television viewers he launched
into a speech against the war in Iraq.
-
- He has said he is no fan of President Bush and wanted
"Fahrenheit 9/11" to be released ahead of the November presidential
election so that it might influence the outcome.
-
- "Everybody knows who I am and where I stand. Oh
no, I'm not trying to pretend I'm being even-handed with Bush," he
told Reuters in May when the controversy erupted.
-
- In a statement announcing the distribution deal, Moore
seemed to take a swipe at Disney, thanking Lions Gate and IFC for "bringing
good family entertainment" to audiences.
-
- Neither the Weinsteins nor Moore were available to comment,
a spokesman said.
-
- Last week the Weinsteins cut a deal with Disney to buy
back the film rights for the cost of the film, estimated at $6 million.
-
- Sources near the early dealmaking said the Weinsteins
were seeking agreements under which they retained ownership of the film
and the distribution partners helped fund film prints and marketing then
shared in box office receipts.
-
- Both Feltheimer and Sehring declined to comment on the
financial details.
-
- The new distribution partners did say that they already
had significant interest from theater chains wanting to show the film and
who were not shying away from the controversy.
-
- Sehring said they had originally wanted to release "Fahrenheit
9/11" on July 2 in about 500 theaters, but moved it up on the calendar.
He said the number of theaters showing it had yet to be determined.
-
-
-
- © Copyright Reuters 2004. All rights reserved. Any
copying, re-publication or re-distribution of Reuters content or of any
content used on this site, including by framing or similar means, is expressly
prohibited without prior written consent of Reuters.
|