New Darwin film shunned by America

83 Comments

1. This advertised the other day on Television, I think it looks good 🙂
2. Newmarket picked it up on Thursday, it will be released in the U.S. in time for Christmas. http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2009/09/film-about-charles-darwin-lands-us-distributor.html
3. Hi – this is slightly out of date, as Creation does now have a US distributor – Newmarket.

   http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/sep/25/darwin-biopic-creation-us-distributor
4. What? -sigh- I dont understand why Americans, or anyone for that matter, get so bothered about evolution or worry about the offence it may cause. People need to be a bit more open minded. 🙁
5. It looks like a really cool film. I’d pay good money to go see that. Shame companies won’t distribute it. It won’t change people’s beliefs, it’ll just be re-iterating what they’ve already heard. If they chose not to believe it, then so be it, if they chose to believe it, then so be that. I’d go and see it. I believe in the Origin of species, but I also believe that there is a God. 🙂
6. Only in America ! xx
7. America – where they can get upset over Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” whilst being the biggest producers , and consumers, of porn on the planet.
8. Fantastic news about Newmarket. It’s so sad that people are so afraid to offend.
9. wow, looks amazing 🙂
   Americans wind me up so much ¬_¬
10. The American’s should be more open minded!! But not too open minded otherwise you’ll be able to manipulate then even easier! haha
    But yeah, if people don’t want to watch it, don’t watch it, they do want to, let them!

    What has this world come to…
11. I have a worrying feeling that there will be quite a hubbub over it in Ireland aswell.

    The religious/Catholic influence is still pretty strong here ,and some people will not be able to open up to this…
12. Im already looking forward to seeing this film as i also am to go and see the soloist:) sorry i ant said much kind of in a rush take care all,em
13. …Perfect time for criticism, especially just as the “revised” version of the origin of species being given out for free by the banana man
14. wow, film looks great, it would be such a shame not to let people see it to let them make up their own mind. We’re all here with free choice after all.
15. newmarket also distributed “the passion of the christ”. guess they believe in equal time!
16. i dont think the film should be released, it is anti christian. If we christians have to respect evolution theory nuts, then they should give us the same respect.
17. For some reason (could be entirely unfounded) I fear that this film will do more damage than good for evolution’s status.

    It just looks to be in the wrong spirit.

    Obviously, very much hope I’m wrong 🙂
18. I read about this on Digg… Something like The Passion of the Christ or the Nazi’s isn’t controversial, but a story about Darwin is? I just don’t get American logic… 🙁
19. Looks good a film, i believe in the your born , you live then die and thats it theory just like it is for all the other animals. God and heaven are just a comfort blanket for people …evolution is in my mind the way life on earth happened but when you lose loved ones its hard to deal with and believing in heaven can help.
20. I’ve seen trailers for this too and it does look a good film. Sadly we appear to live in a world where we tiptoe around people too much for fear of offending. In certain circumstances it’s the right thing to do, but not when the said circumstance could open your eyes and perhaps re-educate your mind.

    I love watching any film or TV programme where I learn something different. Whether it be something I didn’t know beforehand or something where I’ve just had my thoughts on a particular subject sort of readjusted.

    I’m glad Creation now has a distributor in the US. I remember the furore when ‘Passion of the Christ’ first opened. Some cinemas/countries refused to show it. Didn’t stop it grossing millions though.

    LC x
21. *sigh* My poor misguided people… and folks wonder why I periodically consider settling down on another continent. :/
22. Wasn’t this whole ‘America’s scared of evolution’ thing, just a ploy by the producer to get a deal?

    There’s nothing like building up a bit of fake controversy to get what you want. 🙂
23. @Mark B – Do as you would be done by.

    As an atheist I welcome a film about evolution. But that doesn’t mean I shun any religious film. Charlton Heston in The Ten Commandments anyone? Awesome film.

    Any religious based opposition to this film sadly is what gives religion a bad name IMHO.
24. It comes as no surprise. We’re talking about a country lacking intelligence so badly their comedies are dubbed with canned laughter so the population know when to laugh.
    You didn’t get this in Spike Milligan’s day. Monty Python never felt the need to dub phony laughs yet every American comedy does.
    A country living so much in fear of being sued everyone is ridiculously careful not to offend so nobody dares to speak their mind.
    Idiots!
25. i am very much looking forward to this to say the least, and cannot beleive paul bettany is playing a serious part… maybe thats what america couldn’t handle.
26. Sorry, is America just shunning everything that actually happened? First it was Sarah Palin saying dinosaurs didn’t exist, now this *sigh*

    (Sorry if I caused any offence, not my intended motive 🙂 )
27. last weekend the entire area around the old vic, where we live, was shut down because of ‘threats’ to the Old Vic where Kevin Spacey’s play is on – about …Darwin’s theories!
28. its the hype of controversy and limitation that both spurs the argument for it’s ‘banning’ and the need for people to watch it. This will also effect how good a film people perceive it as knowing they have chosen to watch something that initially may not have been released, thus slightly changing how they view themselves and positive promoters of the film.
29. There’s a documentary on channel 4 at the moment (go on – you might just catch the end!) by Dawkins on Darwin – very good. I’m sure it’ll be on 4OD.
30. When is the developed world, apparently the US specifically not included, going to grow a pair and tell these morons that they can think what they like but it’s not going to make any difference to the lives of rational, thinking people?
31. The religious, be they in America, Ireland, Iraq, Afghanistan or wherever, should be MADE to watch the film, preferably on a triple bill with Derren Brown’s Messiah and Religulous.
32. http://librivox.org/the-origin-of-species-by-charles-darwin/
33. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118009136.html?categoryid=13&cs=1
    it looks like Newmarket films are up for it now 🙂
34. I saw this last night and thought the performances were excellent. Definitely worth seeing.
    I honestly don’t ‘get’ the attitude of the American religious right to evolution and Darwin. It just seems so plain obvious to me that it should be possible to see Genesis as allegorical and that Darwin’s theory can be combined with ‘Faith’ if that’s what floats someone’s boat.
    Do all these Americans get in a tizzy if someone outrageously describes rainbows as spectrums of light caused by droplets of moisture in the atmosphere?
    And if the bible is literally true why aren’t the creationists living the lives of Orthodox jews?
35. How can there be any controversy about Darwin’s life? The film is about his life, isn’t it? Not about religious debate? Why should American audiences have a problem with it?

    I think it looks like a good film; I’m going to see it.
36. I take everything back I said about the number of creationists out there being rather insignificant. I had no idea!
37. @Aoife
    “I have a worrying feeling that there will be quite a hubbub over it in Ireland as well.
    The religious/Catholic influence is still pretty strong here ,and some people will not be able to open up to this…”

    Sorry, couldn’t let that one go, as far as I know, creationism isn’t on the curriculum for any educational establishment here. Darwin rules for pretty much anyone in science or education. However, oop north ’tis a different matter though: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/7919180.stm
38. Mark B,

    What exactly makes this film anti-Christian?

    The THEORY of evolution has never been proved. However, there is considerable evidence that it is accurate.

    Charles Darwin was a great man for realising that there was another way that life as we know it came to be here today, instead of a god making everything in 7 days, 4-5000 years ago.
39. This is not typical of the Americans I know. I believe in evolution, and most of my friends do too. America is not the only country filled with christians, who don’t believe in evolution.
    We are however run by the media, and entertainment. To be even more precise, we are run by the entertainment media. Yes this is sad, but before people from other countries say a word, go ahead and google “films banned in” whatever country you are from. I think you will be surprised.
40. Further investigation reveals that the film does, now, have a distributer in America, Newmarket films. Maybe this is a direct result of the controversy, but the mere fact that there is a controversy means that we don’t all think alike.
    God may be dead, but so is Darwin.
    Let’s keep talking people.
    Let’s keep talking AS people. Not countries.
    Long live controversy.
41. It’s not about the content of the film. It’s just extremely difficult to penetrate the theatrical distribution market.

    The American theatrical distribution channels are a *very* competitive market. Thousands of producers try to get a deal in place every year but fail to do so.

    It’s very expensive to roll out a theatrical release — even in a small number of theaters. All that matters to a distributor is how much of a profit they can expect (if any), and whether they’ll make more money than what they’re already planning to offer. It’s especially difficult for films like these, where there are no big-name actors to draw an automatic audience. I’m sure the publicity surrounding the “censorship” of this film helped its case.

    – This is possibly the case but the film has had no trouble elsewhere in the world finding a distributor and Jennifer Connelly did win an Oscar, Bafta and Golden Globe just for Requiem for a Dream – and she’s married to Paul Bettany – bit of a diss there. 😉 – Phillis
42. hey guys? remember, it’s a freeeee country–we fought (& won) a revolution fer that! 🙂
43. in my opinion if the passion of christ can be shown in america after an old woman has a heart attack watching it then there is no reason WHATSOEVER not to show the film. america as a nation in my opinion is very intolerant of any other religions or beliefs other than christianity or catholicism, im not calling them racist but come on not allowing a film to be shown that depicts the trials of darwin after discovering evolution is rediculous. i have seen americans verbally abuse people who believe in creationism and its redicilous. for one i cannot wait to see the film which will probobaly be one of the best this year or at least in close contention
44. Hang on a sec here! Why is it that films like Jurassic Park etc (films about Dinosaurs) can be distributed in America and make huge profits?

    I don’t seem to remember dinosaurs being mentioned in the Bible, do you?

    If god made the world in 7 days how does that explain Dinosaurs?

    Clearly if they weren’t mentioned in the Bible, doesn’t that make them blasphemous?

    Why is it that in this day and age we keep hearing about Darwin being anti Christian when clearly if there was a God controlling all creation he seems to have rushed certain parts of the job.

    I’m talking about murderers, paedophiles, rapists, dictators, anti semitism, genocide, disease, famine, earthquakes (I could go on).

    God is making a real hash of the job isn’t he? Maybe its because he works in mysterious ways his wonders
45. The reason this film is contraversial is because evolution is an athiest theory-unproven and basically a rival “religion” in its own right.It is theology that is counter to any god based theology,as an earlier poster correctly stated- “you are born,you live,you die” there is no room for god in darwin`s theory..

    – Evolution is actually what’s know and “proven scientific fact” which means other sciences rely on the facts in order to operate and conjoin. Many religious scientists believe in it, ask Francis Collins. It is not an “atheist theory”. – Phillis
46. Oh, this film looks wonderful! I’m so glad Newmarket is going to distribute it here in the US. I will definitely watch. Thanks for the heads up!

    Thanks also to Eric for reminding everybody to communicate as people, not as countries. Not every American is as stupid as some of you might think. Many are, to be sure. But not all.

    That said…when can we see DB’s Events here?!? Grrr…..
47. You got to love the americans, you can kill,rape brutaly murder sone1 on tv, but tell them you come from a monkey and its WoHHHHAaaa that a bit to far dont you think lol
48. Why are americans offended?? they watch programs on the nazis….surley thats more offensive than creation….
49. oh for goodness’ sake. when will people start treating films as what they really are for – entertainment?
50. I’m confused – why is John Nash’s imaginary friend now going out with his wife? Ugh, it gets confusing when the same actress always plays geniuses’ wives..!