Expelled the Movie: Opening Night Box Office Exceeds Expectations

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed brought in an estimated $1.2 million on its opening night. Even though it was #14 in terms of number of screens, it was #8 in overall revenue, and #4 in per screen average (among those on the Friday estimate chart). Most box office sites I looked at predicted it would end up with 2.0-2.4 for the whole weekend (Friday to Sunday) with an average of 2.2. It is on track to get at least $3.5 million for the weekend, which would be 60% above expectations.

It looks like all the glowing reviews in the mainstream media had an effect . . . (chuckles).

I think that there is a good chance that it will have even better results on both Saturday and Sunday, because more people can go to the daytime showings.

My Review of Expelled the Movie

I have finally had a chance to see this much anticipated film and I am . . . simply blown away. I went in with very high expectations, and this was a rare instance when my high expectations were actually surpassed. I was stunned by the quality. Rarely do you see a documentary that flows like a drama, but this one does. It was humorous, informative, visually stimulating and magnificently thought-provoking.

Who would have thought that a documentary primarily about science, philosophy of science and philosophical worldviews could generate $3.2 million at the box office in one weekend?

I have so much to say about so much that was so excellent. I plan add to this review very soon as time permits.

Expelled the Movie: Copyright Issues

I do not have time to write much at the moment, but I thought I would provide a link to the complaint in the lawsuit in Texas about one of the animations in the movie. You may find it more informative than many of the opinions on web from people who do not know what they are talking about.

Victor Frankl on Scientific Theories and the Holocaust

Victor Frankl was a concentration camp survivor and wrote the hugely successful and influential book Man's Search for Meaning. Here is what he had to say about the potential impact of certain ideas:

If we present man with a concept of man which is not true, we may well corrupt him. When we present him as an automation of reflexes, as a mind machine, as a bundle of instincts, as a pawn of drive and reactions, as mere product of heredity and environment, we feed the nihilism to which modern man is, in any case, prone. I became acquainted with the last stage of corruption in my second concentration camp, Auschwitz. The gas chambers of Auschwitz were the ultimate consequence of the theory that man is nothing but the product of heredity and environment--or, as the Nazis liked to say, "of blood and soil." I am absolutely convinced that the gas chambers of Auschwitz, Treblinka, and Maidanek were ultimately prepared not in some ministry or other in Berlin, but rather at the desks and in lecture halls of nihilistic scientists and philosophers.