Fan Fare

Michael Moore’s “Capitalism” wins fans in week No. 1

After a month-long publicity blitz, director Michael Moore’s new documentary, “Capitalism: A Love Story” finally opened in a few theaters in major U.S. cities this past weekend. The movie, in which Moore looks at last year’s financial market collapse and the economic fallout that ensued, will broaden its release to theaters around the United States this coming Friday.

The movie performed well at box offices this past weekend, taking in about $240,000 from 4 locations or roughly $60,000 per location. By contrast, No. 1 movie “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” took in around $7,900 per location in more than 3,100 theaters. You can read our box office report here.

The comparison is not direct because “Capitalism” is a documentary, and those films generally do not do as well as feature films like “Cloudy” at box offices. Still, Moore’s movies (“Fahrenheit 9/11,” “SiCKO” and “Bowling for Columbine” to name a few), have always done very well and in some sense played more like feature films than documentaries.

Moore is, in fact, in a league all his own when it comes to his firebrand style of documentary film. Our blog items and stories about “Capitalism” have elicited a lot of responses. Our story from the Venice film festival is here, and this is a Hollywood Reporter review. And if that’s not enough background, you can read our “Capitalism” Fan Fare blog item from the Toronto film festival here.

So, given the fact that we’ve done all this work on “Capitalism,” we went to theaters over the weekend in Los Angeles and asked people what they thought of the movie. Perhaps predictably — given it was the film’s first weekend in theaters so Moore’s loyal fans turned out — “Capitalism” was well-received. But not all the people were giving Moore the thumbs up. Click below for a look.

(video by Marc Price)

If not capitalism, then what? Michael Moore’s not too sure.

(writing and reporting by Cameron French)

Does Michael Moore really advocate abandoning capitalism? Welllllll, not exactly.

In his new documentary film, “Capitalism: A Love Story,” which debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival Sunday night, the filmmaker behind anti-war documentary “Fahrenheit 9/11″ and anti-gun Oscar winner “Bowling for Columbine” argues that capitalism has ruined the United States and should be eliminated, likening it to a Ponzi scheme that only benefits those at the top.

You can read what Moore said about his movie at last week’s Venice film festival here, or read The Hollywood Reporter’s review here.

But with what would he replace it? At a news conference in Toronto, Moore admitted he was not in favor of embracing communism as an economic system, and hinted he may have overstated his argument to make a point with the audience.

“I think it’s an artistic choice,” he said when asked about his reasons for framing his argument so definitively.

“When I say that capitalism should be eliminated, I’m not talking about eliminating somebody wanting to open up a business and sell shoes or somebody working hard to earn money…to do better for themselves. What would I replace it with? I’m not an economist, so I have no plan to lay out here.”