Word: mel
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Similarly, Mel Gibson and Michael Moore launched movies outside the big studios, deploying amateur word of mouth to juice the box office. The audiences caught on--showing up not just to see movies but to send a message. They weren't alone. In the spring, the mayor of San Francisco began his doomed assault against the existing order by simply declaring he would ignore the law and grant marriage licenses to gay couples in city hall. Thousands lined up day after day for a simple civil rite most Americans--Britney Spears included--tend to take for granted. They knew...
...MIKE?S PASSION, MEL?S RESURRECTION
...happens, the tone and content of these films neatly bisected the mood of this year?s electorate. Moore?s documentary was angry, skeptical, wide-ranging, skipping from topic to topic, using comedy and sarcasm to convey moral rage; its hero was a grungy fat guy who ambushed his adversaries. Mel Gibson?s docudrama was stolid, bloody, humorless, remorseless, sticking to its micro-subject with macro implications, staying obsessively on point; its hero was a stern thin man who endured scourging and calumny in order to fulfill His mission. In other words, Moore embodied what the Right saw as Kerry...
...Both movies were astonishingly successful at the box office. The worldwide gross of ?Fahrenheit? was more than 36 million times its $6 million budget (yikes! someone?s getting rich off this movie!), whereas ?The Passion? took in some 20 million times its $30 million budget (Mel was already rich). But for our purposes, the salient stats are North American revenue. ?Fahrenheit?: just over $119 million. ?The Passion?: just over $370 million - more than three times as much - to rank ninth on the domestic list of all-time money earners. (To be sure, constantly rising ticket prices skew this list. Interestingly...
...international auditors and banks that were working for Parmalat vehemently reject the allegations, saying they were tricked by Parmalat's management. (U.S. ambassador to Rome Mel Sembler has been lobbying on behalf of the U.S. banks, alleging that they are being discriminated against in the bankruptcy proceedings and warning of damage to bilateral relations.) Bank of America notes that it has been a victim in the case, already writing off $425 million. Citibank puts its total Parmalat exposure at $540 million. Where did the rest of the lost billions go? According to Bondi, $8.5 billion went to pay interest, dividends...