Supposed to be available for home rental sometime in Sept.
Maybe Bush can watch it on his campaign bus ... and figure out how to not
sound like such a doofus.
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Sony close to DVD deal on Moore film
Wed 7 July, 2004 23:40
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Sony's home entertainment division is close to
acquiring DVD and home video rights to Michael Moore's controversial
documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11", Hollywood trade paper Daily Variety reports.
Wednesday's report that a home entertainment deal is near comes as Moore's
scathing critique of President George W. Bush and the U.S.-led war in Iraq
is headed for release in several overseas markets.
The film, which grossed a record $60 million (32.4 million pounds) through
its first two weekends in the United States and Canada, the most ever for a
political documentary, was slated to open in France, Switzerland, Belgium
and the Middle East on Wednesday and in Britain on Thursday. It debuts in
several Latin American nations next week.
"Fahrenheit" won the top award at the Cannes film festival in May, and
analysts expect it to find a particularly warm reception in countries, like
France, where public opinion has clashed with the Bush administration over
its Iraq policy.
At a news conference in New York on Tuesday, Moore said he planned to focus
his energies on campaigning against Bush's re-election bid at home rather
than promoting his film overseas.
"We have an election coming up," Moore said of the November U.S.
presidential race. "Every day spent outside the United States is another
day outside our mission, which is to do our best to remove Mr. Bush from
the White House."
Both Sony and the Fellowship Adventure Group -- the entity formed by Miramax
Films Co-Chairmen Harvey and Bob Weinstein to buy the rights to the film
when the Walt Disney refused to release it -- declined to comment on talks
about DVD distribution.
But Variety said Sony was nearing a deal to release DVD and VHS versions of
"Fahrenheit" this fall through its Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment
unit. Other bidders included NBC Universal and Lions Gate Entertainment,
which is one of the film's two domestic distributors.
Moore's last documentary, his Oscar-winning "Bowling for Columbine", which
explored gun violence in America, grossed just over $21 million during its
nine-month run at the box office and, according to Variety, generated $12
million in home video revenues.
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