SiCKO brings home sick returns

Michael Moore’s latest exposé , SiCKO, boasted the second highest opening weekend ever for a documentary, behind the director’s previous release Fahrenheit 9/11. From 441 screens it earned approximately $4.5 million. This placed it at a strong #9 for the weekend, with top dollar going to Ratatouille at $47 million and Live Free or Die Hard at $33 million.

The generally positive press surrounding the film from both liberal and conservative reviews, with a 91% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, was likely a key to the film’s box-office draw. CNN has also reported that the film contains no factual errors, which should assuage those who refused to watch it due to suspected accuracy problems. It’s too early at this point to tell whether any of this critical and commercial acclaim will transform into actual social reform, but with the 2008 primaries looming it at least helps to keep healthcare from being a forgotten issue.

In a press release Harvey Weinstein said that he’s thrilled with the film’s success, which more than doubled predicted box office revenue. However, it’s yet to return its $9 million budget, an extremely high cost for a documentary feature. This also fails to take into account the cost of its extensive marketing campaign that consisted of both traditional marketing strategies and individual calls to its potential audience modeled after grassroots election efforts. The film's clearly doing well out of the gate, but whether it'll have the legs to make a real profit is still up in the air.

Related links:
SiCKO.com
Paste’s Review of SiCKO
SiCKO Ticket Sales on BoxOfficeMojo.com

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