Presidential biographic drama “Reagan” is courting conservative audience segments as it heads to an Aug. 30 domestic theatrical premiere, after finding liberal-leaning media is trying to stifle its marketing.
Showbiz Direct is distributing the PG-13-rated movie that reportedly cost $25 million to make and stars Dennis Quaid as Ronald Reagan.
“Quaid told Joe Rogan on his podcast that there were ‘a couple of attempts to cancel me’ while he was filming a movie in which he portrayed former President Ronald Reagan,” Ariel Zilber wrote in the New York Post. “The two men lamented ideological conformity in Hollywood, where conservatives are ‘blackballed.’” Quaid is known as conservative politically.
There are concrete examples backing complaints of media censorship. Facebook owned up to blocking some “Reagan” content in a paid marketing initiative, known as a “boost,” that tripped automated systems filtering social issues, elections and politics. Facebook added that those restrictions are now lifted.
Reaction from Quaid and others on blaming automated systems means nobody takes responsibility, automated systems seem always particularly hard on conservative content and wondered who programmed the automated systems in the first place.
Quaid is on the interview circuit booked on conservative outlets, which are affinity groups sympathetic to the Ronald Reagan theme. The media outlets include Fox News, Newsmax, “Huckabee” on Trinity Christian Center (TBN) and a seminar at the Reagan presidential library. Fox News is an impactful platform, trouncing its cable news competition with its average 1.85 million viewers in primetime during 2023. Quaid also appeared on other outlets including the Dr. Phil podcast, per posts on Facebook.
In a Fox News interview, Quaid said that he found Facebook’s explanation fishy that this movie triggered an automated politics tripwire because Ronald Reagan hasn’t been on a voting ballot in 40 years.
“Reagan’s” theatrical distributor is ShowBiz Direct, which was founded in 2023 by three experienced film executives with extensive backgrounds in cinema and movie distribution. The trio is Kevin Mitchell, Richard Fay and Scott Kennedy.
Said a Deadline.com story by Andreas Wiseman about ShowBiz Direct’s launch in November, 2024, “The LA and Dallas-based theatrical and digital distribution company tells us it is aiming to release mid-size to tent-pole releases that don’t always fit into the post-pandemic release strategies of major studios.” Core financing comes from “a number of individual investors.”
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