‘Atlas Shrugged’ producer: ‘Critics, you won’

LOS ANGELES
— Twelve days after opening “Atlas Shrugged: Part 1,” the producer of
the Ayn Rand adaptation said Tuesday that he is reconsidering his plans
to make Parts 2 and 3 because of scathing reviews and flagging box
office returns for the film.

“Critics, you won,” said John Aglialoro, the businessman who spent 18 years and more than $20 million
of his own money to make, distribute and market “Atlas Shrugged: Part
1,” which covers the first third of Rand’s dystopian novel. “I’m having
deep second thoughts on why I should do Part 2.”

“Atlas Shrugged” was the top-grossing limited release in its opening weekend, generating $1.7 million on 299 screens and earning a respectable $5,640
per screen. But the the box office dropped off 47 percent in the film’s
second week in release even as “Atlas Shrugged” expanded to 425
screens, and the movie seemed to hold little appeal for audiences
beyond the core group of Rand fans to whom it was marketed.

Aglialoro attributed the box office drop-off to “Atlas Shrugged’s” poor reviews. Only one major critic — Kyle Smith of the New York Post — gave “Atlas” a mixed-to-positive review, calling
the film “more compelling than the average mass-produced studio item.”
The movie has a dismal 7 percent fresh rating on review aggregator
Rotten Tomatoes thanks to critics like the Chicago Tribune’s Michael Phillips, who said “Atlas” is “crushingly ordinary in every way.” Roger Ebert called the film “the most anticlimactic non-event since Geraldo Rivera broke into Al Capone’s vault,” while Rolling Stone’s Peter Travers said the movie “sits there flapping on screen like a bludgeoned seal.”

“The New York Times gave us the most hateful review of all,” said Aglialoro, who also has a writing credit on the movie. “They didn’t cover it.”

The novel, a sacred text among many conservatives
for Rand’s passionate defense of capitalism, takes place at an
unspecified future time in which the United States
is mired in a deep depression and a mysterious phenomenon is causing
the nation’s leading industrialists to disappear or “strike.”

Aglialoro’s 97-minute adaptation is directed by first-timer Paul Johansson and stars little-known TV actors Taylor Schilling (as railroad executive Dagny Taggart) and Grant Bowler (as steel magnate Hank Rearden).

Though the film has made only $3.1 million
so far, Aglialoro said he believes he’ll recoup his investment after
TV, DVD and other ancillary rights are sold. But he is backing off an
earlier strategy to expand “Atlas” to 1,000 screens and reconsidering
his plans to start production on a second film this fall.

“Why should I put up all of that money if the
critics are coming in like lemmings?” Aglialoro said. “I’ll make my
money back and I’ll make a profit, but do I wanna go and do two? Maybe
I just wanna see my grandkids and go on strike.”

Aglialoro, who is chief executive of the exercise equipment manufacturer Cybex, said he is not completely finished with Hollywood, however. An avid poker player who won the U.S. Poker Championship in 2004, he has a dramatic script called “Poker Room” in development. “Maybe the critics will be kinder to that one,” he said.

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