Edited on 4/23/08 to update revised box office receipt figures.
Depending on which side you believe, the opening of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed last Friday was either a stupendous success or a dismal failure. The actual answer probably lies somewhere in between.
Here are the actual gross box office receipts, from Box Office Mojo, for 1,052 theaters:
| Friday, 4/18 | $1,208,748 |
| Saturday, 4/19 | $996,244 |
| Sunday, 4/20 | $765,856 |
For a political documentary, Expelled did really well, placing in the top 10 each of its first three days. Its daily receipts, however, seem to be declining, as the initial hubbub about its release dies out.
Detractors of the movie point to the decline in receipts over three days (hardly a statistically valid sample) and predict Expelled will be an overall box office flop. Supporters of the movie on the other hand say its initial success places it among the top grossing documentaries in recent times.
Pre-release noise about Expelled was pretty substantial. The movie’s marketing firm screened the flick all over the country beginning in August ‘07, mostly to receptive audiences (conservative Christians, mostly). Those folks talked it up, saying it was the best thing since the Book of Revelations. Less sympathetic reviewers panned it, which is still marketing — the only bad publicity is no publicity.
