Doc box office: The empire strikes back? Conservatives chew on red meat from Dinesh D'Souza8/6/2018 His documentary Death of a Nation scores $2.3 mil., but underperforms compared to his anti-Hillary film If recent history teaches us anything, it's that Donald Trump never does anything without self-interest in mind. Just over two months ago he pardoned conservative filmmaker and convicted felon Dinesh D'Souza, who pled guilty in 2014 to making an illegal campaign contribution. So what did Trump get out of it? Now we know: a cinematic hand job in the form of the new documentary Death of a Nation. D'Souza's film, which ludicrously equates the 45th president with the 16th -- Abraham Lincoln -- collected $2.3 mil. at the box office in its opening weekend. Lincoln was elected to unite a country and stop slavery. Democrats smeared him, went to war against him, assassinated him. Now their target is Trump. "Lincoln was elected to unite a country and stop slavery. Democrats smeared him, went to war against him, assassinated him. Now their target is Trump," D'Souza narrates in the trailer. If that doesn't stroke Trump's sense of grievance and injured vanity, I don't know what will. The debut of Death of a Nation comes amid a summer of success for more left-leaning documentaries, including RBG, the film about Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Won't You Be My Neighbor? about the deeply humane television personality Fred Rogers (though it bears repeating, as Morgan Neville does in his film, that Rogers was a lifelong Republican). D'Souza's film can be perceived as a right-wing retort to the liberal trend -- "The Empire Strikes Back" for conservatives. But before any Trumpers whoop for joy, it's worth pointing out that Death of a Nation did a less than stellar $2,345 per screen at each of its 1,005 locations, a more modest take than the debut of his previous documentary, Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party. That film, released in the midst of the 2016 presidential contest, went on to make over $13 mil. at the domestic box office, but Death of a Nation's prospects appear less grand. D'Souza's 2012 film, 2016: Obama's America, earned more than $33 mil., making it one of the most successful documentaries of all time. Related: |
AuthorMatthew Carey is a documentary filmmaker and journalist. His work has appeared on Deadline.com, CNN, CNN.com, TheWrap.com, NBCNews.com and in Documentary magazine. |