Did Fauci flop? We may never know the answer because the distributor has taken the unusual step of hiding the movie’s box-offices grosses from the public.
Fauci — which follows the life and career of Dr. Anthony Fauci — opened in select cinemas September 10. The National Geographic documentary was released by indie distributor Magnolia Pictures in major cities, including New York and Los Angeles, prior to the movie’s streaming debut Wednesday on Disney+.
Magnolia didn’t respond to a request for comment from Breitbart News and neither did publicists for the movie.
It is customary for movies that receive a proper theatrical release to report box-office grosses, even if the release is limited. Distributors traditionally report daily grosses to organizations like comScore or the Amazon-owned BoxOfficeMojo.com, the latter of which makes the figures accessible to the public.
Many distributors and studios also send press releases to journalists each weekend with a rundown of the latest numbers.
No box-office data seem to exist for Fauci. The title doesn’t appear on BoxOfficeMojo,.com and there don’t appear to be any published reports about the movie’s box-office performance.
Watch below:
Studios have become more cagey about revealing box-office grosses since the coronavirus pandemic, worried that low figures might be perceived as a flop. (Netflix also doesn’t reveal grosses for the titles it releases in cinemas.) But as audiences return to cinemas, the vast majority of distributors have gone back to reporting figures as usual.
Fauci features talking-head appearances by former President George W. Bush, U2’s Bono, and the Obama and Biden administration’s Susan Rice — all of whom are on hand to sing Fauci’s praises.
The filmmakers haven’t been shy about their admiration for Fauci. An early teaser for the documentary described Fauci as a “hero.”
“This film will be an unprecedented, intimate portrait of our nation’s greatest public servant, whose relentless pursuit of truth and devotion to science has never been more important,” the film’s directors said in a statement.
Among the movie’s producers is Jon Bardin, who produced the recent Stacey Abrams documentary All In: The Fight for Democracy.
Follow David Ng on Twitter @HeyItsDavidNg. Have a tip? Contact me at dng@breitbart.com
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