Second Amendment fans are grinning as they watch the Hollywood gun-control film “Miss Sloane” bomb in historic fashion at the box office.
Starring Jessica Chastain, “Miss Sloane,” the story of a ruthless Washington lobbyist who takes on a powerful National Rifle Association-like organization, had the 75th-worst opening weekend since 1982, earning an anemic $1.8 million in wide release, according to Box Office Mojo.
That’s a measly $1,133 per theater. Still, Ms. Chastain was nominated Monday for a Golden Globe for best performance by an actress in a drama, although the film itself scored a mediocre 56 percent audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
The film has been ripped by gun-rights advocates for its one-sided take on the firearms lobby, while the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence has promoted the movie and touted its own “consulting” role.
“We’re thankful to the Miss Sloane team for seeking out our help with this project,” the Brady Campaign said in a Friday post on Facebook.
The real National Rifle Association has posted without comment links to articles blasting the movie, such as a Dec. 5 review in The Hill headlined, “Film ‘Miss Sloane’ another reminder of Hollywood’s liberal smugness.”
Ms. Chastain, who plays lobbyist Elizabeth Sloane, defended the movie in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, insisting that people misunderstand the true goals of the gun-control lobby.
“Gun control is divisive because some people are immediately afraid that it’s a kind of confiscation,” she told EW. “And people who hear that in regards to this film will think it’s a plant to move them in one direction. It’s not.”
Movie reviewer Christian Toto wasn’t buying it, calling the film “unabashed gun-control propaganda.”
“The film’s key players insisted in media interviews that ‘Miss Sloane’ isn’t gun control propaganda. That’s nonsense,” he said on his Hollywood in Toto blog. “Sloane and co. are shown to be hard-working, dedicated and righteous. The gun groupies? They’re all older white men with resentment in their hearts.”
Christopher Lambert, CEO of EuropaCorp, the French company that produced and released the film, said in an interview last year that, “The film’s subject matter of gun control is an incredibly important issue in today’s world.”
A Nov. 25 headline in Bloomberg Business Week asked, “Can She Take Away America’s Guns? Miss Sloane Gives It a Try.”
So far “Miss Sloane” has earned $2.1 million at the box office, placing the movie at risk of failing to recoup its $13 million cost.
The Lid’s Tony Oliva accused the Golden Globes of attempting to prop up the movie with the nomination, saying Hollywood has a history of trying to “breathe a second life” into films that “align with their progressive liberal ideologies.”
“All in all the film is a garbage indoctrination piece that Joseph Goebbels would be proud to call his own … except that no one is going to see it,” Mr. Oliva said.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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