By Joshua Tyler | Published
Stupidity It is regarded as one of the funniest and most foreboding science fiction films of all time. But it almost wasn’t. When it was released, Stupidity There was a big bomb. no one saw it, Stupidity Made no money, and it left theaters in less than a week. You only know that it exists now because of the work of fans and independent publishers.
Of ignorance The failure was not an accident. Despite the high potential of Mike Judge’s comedy to become a sleeper hit at the box office, 20th Century Fox decided to squash the film before it had a chance, and the reasons behind the mega-company’s decision are for those of you Will know very well. With what Google has done with this website in general specific and independent publishing.
How Corporate Bias Towards Big Brands Killed Stupidity
From the Director of Time Mike Judge Finished making Office space, Beaves, and Buttheads Debut was ten years in the rearview, and he had his eye on another project. This time he wanted to make a time travel film that satirized the current direction of American culture. Fox had already made a lot of money working with Mike Judge, so they funded him to make it.
Judge named his new comedy film, Stupidity.
How Fox Destroyed Mike Judge’s Movie, On Purpose
With a smart script, Mike Judge at the helm, and a major film studio backing it, Stupidity was primed for an impressive theatrical run. There was just one big problem: 20th Century Fox decided to destroy the film.
It was in March 2005 that things first started to go wrong. Stupidity was shown to test audiences, and reactions were so poor that 20th Century Fox ordered reshoots that would push the film’s release date back indefinitely.
By April 2006, Judge had the Fox team sufficiently comfortable with the film to announce a September 2006 release. Fox agreed to release it, possibly because they were contractually required. Under this agreement, they were not required to do anything else.
When the film’s September 1, 2006 release date rolled around, Stupidity was dead on arrival. Fox made sure to release it in only 130 theaters nationwide, to audiences who didn’t know it existed.
Fox never marketed the film. Absolutely. Stupidity Never even got a trailer for the movie.
The only promotional material anyone saw were two low-resolution images, which a handful of independent sites like CinemaBlend found and did their best to display. It wasn’t much to work with.
People can’t go see a movie if they don’t know it exists. And no one knew. Stupidity was present
Killing the Idiocracy
I only knew it existed because I was deeply involved in covering Mike Judge for my first independent entertainment news site, Cinema Blend. Very few other sites, and especially not big brand corporate ones, were talking about Judge’s next film.
Stupidity There was no advance screening for critics, so the day it was released, I went to the only Dallas, Texas theater showing it, intending to buy a ticket. The movie wasn’t listed in the theater’s marquee, and the ticket seller looked confused when I asked him to pay so I could see it. He had to check with his manager before he took my cash (people were still using green paper stuff back then) and let me in.
A hallway marker that designates a theater. Stupidity I was playing, it looked like it was printed on the Cinemark theater manager’s personal inkjet. The theater where the movie played was empty, I watched it alone and laughed to myself.
Two days later, the cinema stopped screening the film altogether. It didn’t last a week, but it was hilarious, and the dozen or so people who actually saw it loved it.
My review was one of only 5 posted on the internet and counted on Rotten Tomatoes. Only three of these reviews were positive. Predictably, the most negative was from one of the two major brand outlets that reviewed it, a packed critic at Entertainment Weekly.
Stupidity ended its theatrical run after one week, grossing less than $500,000 at the worldwide box office.
Fox destroyed idiocy for the same reason Google is destroying independent publishers
Fox killed its own movie. Why? Most people now believe that they were afraid of upsetting their corporate partners.
throughout StupidityCorporate America is framed as the primary antagonist and the root cause of the anti-intellectual culture that is ruining the world. The film takes some pretty vicious swings at companies like Starbucks.
In the future, Starbucks stops serving coffee and starts serving blowjobs. Costco is now its own city-state.
President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Camacho, played by Terry Crews, embodies this corporate cynicism. He is a former pro wrestler and porn star who gives over-the-top and idiotic speeches and fires machine guns while addressing the nation.
In a 2018 interview with GQ, Terry Crews admitted that real-life advertisers put money into the film.Thinking that they will get a positive image. He was shocked to know this. Stupidity Turned his business into a full release massage parlor and then accused them of destroying the entire world.
If Crews is correct, it confirms that Fox was nervous about upsetting his business partners but was also contractually required to release the film. So they released it, while doing everything they could to make sure no one saw it. All in an effort to avoid driving the big brands crazy.
Ironically, this was the same excuse Google recently gave to independent websites, when asked why they give preferential treatment to older media outlets. Some things never change.
Mike Judge still won’t say anything bad about Fox.
Taking a more diplomatic approach, Mike Judge generally gives the reason for the film’s poor test screening. Stupidity Never found Starbucks style full release. Judge also says that Fox always believed the film would eventually become a cult classic with audiences.
I’m not sure I buy it. He looks like a man trying not to offend his corporate partners.
However, it is true Stupidity Soon became a cult classic, no thanks to Fox.
How independent publishers teamed up with fans to save silliness.
A few independent websites that reviewed Stupidityworked hard to spread the word. when Stupidity Out on DVD, the independent site that supports readers who saw places like Cinema Blend raving about it for months picked up a copy and gave it a chance.
These people watched the DVD, laughed themselves silly, and were instantly converted. They shared. Stupidity With their friends and their friends shared it with their friends.
Thanks to organic sharing of Mike Judge’s film and the support of independent entertainment sites, almost everyone now knows that Stupidity Genius has a time traveling job.
You’ll even see praise from the same big media brands who ignored it, when they really should have paid to see it.
will do Stupidity Become a cult classic without independent media? It’s amazing and I’d like to think so, but the movie was so completely buried by Fox that it’s hard to know.
What we do know is that this is a scenario that is unlikely to repeat itself, as Google continues to ban independent media and small publishers, driving them off the Internet.
Mike Judge’s Journey into Ideocracy
To understand what happened. Stupidityyou need to understand the creator of the time travel movie, Mike Judge.
In 1993, Judge scored his first big break with his debut. Beaves and Butthead. It was an animated MTV hit about two teenage boys who aren’t exactly the cream of the crop and always find themselves in trouble. In between making fun of MTV music videos of course.
The show became a lightning rod for controversy, particularly from watchdog groups. Beaves and Butthead launching his counterculture reputation and his creator’s career. Judge found more success after the TV show when Beauce and his friends became a box office hit. Beauce and Butthead Do America.
Soon after, Mike Judge launched a popular animated series. King of the Hill on Fox. On a roll, he transitioned to live action by writing and directing the funniest workplace comedy of all time. Office space. He secured Jennifer Aniston to co-star in it, one of his first major film roles.
Mike Judge was on a roll when he decided to create. Stupidity In 2005 He is now so traumatized by the whole experience that he can barely talk about it.
Idiocracy visits a future full of idiots.
Started in the year 2005, Stupidity Luke Wilson centers on Joe Bowers, the most prominent average member of the United States military. Joe is upset to learn that he is being fired as a military librarian for participating in a government-sanctioned hibernation experiment. He joins the experiment of a prostitute named Rita, presumably recruited because she will do anything for money.
Joe entered the experiment with the assurance that it would last only one year. Unfortunately, the government forgot about the project when its lead researcher was jailed for illegal activities. Joe wakes up 500 years later in a world he remembers. Mostly, it’s different because, due to the overbreeding of idiots, everyone in the world is very, very stupid.
In the future, called the No. 1 movie in America Assand that was it for 90 minutes. One bit, on screen, the whole time. It won eight Oscars that year, including Best Screenplay.
The crops are all dying because they are watering them with energy drinks. The English language has degenerated into a hybrid of hillbilly, valleygirl, inner-city slang, and various grunts.
Joe, once seen as an average guy, is now a genius.
