Al Gore is back in theaters trying to make a buck talking about climate change — but this time, no one is listening.
The former vice president stars in “An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power,” which is a follow-up to the million-dollar blockbuster documentary that made Gore wealthy.
Gore was a few years removed from narrowly losing the presidency at the time, and moviegoers showed up in droves.
This time, the movie about glacial melting received a cold reception from the public.
The move ranked just 15th at the box office in its first weekend of wide release and earning icy reviews from critics. The movie has earned a meager $1 million since its release, prompting one critic to complain that parent company Paramount Pictures “effectively sabotaged” the premier.
“This was not supposed to happen — and it would not have happened if Paramount had stuck with its original release plan,” D.R. Tucker wrote in The Washington Monthly.
“In a Monday post headlined ‘Al Gore Gets Ripped Off Again,’ he said Paramount had botched the nationwide release with its two-weekend platform strategy, instead of seizing on anti-Trump momentum to whip up enthusiasm with a splashy one-weekend launch. … ‘Paramount apparently couldn’t be bothered to aggressively promote ‘An Inconvenient Sequel’ as the movie Trump and [EPA administrator] Scott Pruitt didn’t want you to see — and giving American audiences a decent chance to see it,’ Mr. Tucker said. ‘By failing to do so, the studio effectively undercut its own product,'” according to a report by The Washington Times, which first reported this story.
On the other side, climate change skeptics have used the films poor box office numbers as proof the American public doesn’t believe the science behind the claims.
For example, Anthony Watts skewered the movie as “an inconvenient bomb.” Others have criticized the movie as a “vanity project” and pointed out that Gore, the climate change advocate, lives in a mansion that consumes 21-times the electricity as the average U.S. household.
“Clearly, Gore is unwilling to practice what he preaches,” said David A. Ridenour, president of the conservative National Center for Public Policy Research.
— The Horn editorial team