Never underestimate the power of a grassroots effort. Last week the producers of the movie Bella, a small-budget independent movie, with a decidedly pro-life theme, launched an e-mail campaign to encourage people to get to the theatre to see the movie. Even if they'd already seen it. The reason? Box office numbers needed to be high enough to ensure that the movie's distributor would keep the film in theatres over Thanksgiving weekend, traditionally the biggest movie weekend of the year.
It appears the efforts were successful. The movie's producers say Bella will be in theatres for the Thanksgiving weekend.
According to the Powerscore™ ratings on Box Office.com Bella is ranked ahead of anticipated blockbusters [1]like Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium which opened this past weekend, and Dan in Real Life, Lions for Lambs and Saw 4. What makes the achievement remarkable is that Bella continues to play in less than 500 theatres while these other movies have been released in thousands of theatres.
Yet, despite this ranking, in the write-up on all of the movies ranked on Box Office.com's Powerscore™, Bella is not mentioned. The box office performance of every other movie on the Powerscore™ chart is discussed. Bella's absence from the discussion is shameful, but it's reflective of the complete lack of coverage the media have given this movie's success.
In spite of the slight from the mainstream press, Bella's profile continues to rise. Eduardo Verastegui, the star of the film, spoke at The White House on November 16, for National Adoption Day. The story was carried on CBN News.com [2].
Kristen Fyfe is the Sr. Writer for the Culture and Media Institute [3], a division of the Media Research Center.