Originally scheduled to open wide on July 2nd, Religulous, Bill Maher and Larry Charles’s documentary aimed at the pulsing jugular of all religions, will now be released on October 3rd, 2008. Lionsgate says the film wasn’t ready to premiere at this month’s Cannes Film Festival, where it would have become a “media lightning rod” according to studio president Tom Ortenberg. The movie is a smart one. Against the blanketed media coverage of this summer’s box office goliaths and rah-rah flops like Speed Racer, mainstream/traditional media would have easily buried the controversy/discussion that Maher’s doc needs to be a Michael Moore-like hit. Lionsgate now hopes to hit the fall festival circuit hard up until its October release, where it will face off with tiny Michael Cera’s Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist…and God(s).
As for Maher, he’s still taking jabs, telling Variety…
“I wanted to make a documentary, and I wanted it to be funny. In fact, since there is nothing more ridiculous than the ancient mythological stories that live on as today’s religions, this movie would try to be a real knee-slapper. Unless, of course, you’re religious; then you might not like it.”
What are the chances Maher gets struck by lightning or disappears by October? Back in my hometown/golf country’s sole spiffy theater, churches have started advertising their services before every movie. What is that about? I checked online out of curiosity and Ben Stein’s Expelled played for a few weeks, so I’m wondering if Religulous will nab a screen as well. There Will Be Blood did not, NCFOM did. What a weird world.
Discuss: A better date for Religulous? Do you agree with Maher’s statement above?
May 12th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
Religion is always in need of being poked fun at… plus, it makes it so easy.
I don’t think this date really changes much. The only thing really is that there may or may not be other things to satisfy the people looking for a laugh (I haven’t looked at the release schedule), but the religious groups looking to bitch and moan will be out in droves no matter when it’s released… I think that’s the audience they’re looking for anyway.
May 12th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
Loking forward to chekcing this out considering I actually do believe there is aGod and I want to see if Maher and his white hair can convince me.
Important!!!! Hunter or anyone that knows:
I just added Mobile RSS to my iPhone and I wanted to add /film to the list but I can’t figure out the damn address to add. In the list of feed providers I don’t see mobile RSS.
Most sites just use a specific RSS address.
I’m confused.
May 12th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
“I wanted to make a documentary, and I wanted it to be funny. In fact, since there is nothing more ridiculous than the ancient mythological stories that live on as today’s religions, this movie would try to be a real knee-slapper. Unless, of course, you’re religious; then you might not like it.â€
I don’t get his statement. Does he mean all mythologies? Because even if you’re not religious there are plenty of mythos that are very interesting. I’m a huge fan of ancient mythologies whether some dip into some of the more popular religions today and some just in the form of “tribal” mythos.
May 12th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
I’m just upset that this movie keeps getting pushed back. It was originally supposed to come out this past Easter. But I do agree that it may get lost in the shuffle in between all these summer blockbusters.
May 12th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
When do we get a trailer?
May 12th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Ditto on “when…the trailer”!
As a “non-theist” who similarly finds it amazing that so many people on this planet continue to be trained to believe in age-old myths and fairy tales that were created to try and explain a world that few understood (a few thousands years ago), I can hardly wait to see this one.
May 12th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
The /Film rss feed is http://feeds.feedburner.com/slashfilm . We will be launching a mobile website in the coming weeks.
May 12th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
“non-theist†i like that! the name “atheist” never made sense to me. why is there a name for people who don’t believe in something?
there’s no name for people who don’t believe in witches, santa or the force, why give a name to people who don’t beleive in a god?
May 12th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Thanks Peter, worked perfectly!
May 12th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
hmmm, making fun of someone else’s beliefs, sounds pretty un-american to me. Of course all religions have their radicals, that doesn’t mean you stereotype everyone who believes in a religion and make a movie mocking them. Bill Maher is funny guy who more often than not, takes things a bit too far, I stopped watching his show because I think he started stating his opinions as facts, as if he is the smartest person alive and should be telling us how to live.
May 12th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Gee, uh, I wonder if he’s trying to influence the election by moving it to October?
How much “Republicans are stoopid” commentary can we expect?
Just like Oliver Stone’s version of the GW presidency, this too will fail miserably at the box office.
Someone needs to make a list of all of the pre-election films that will inevitably fail. It’s becoming so routine for Hollywood, it’s a little sad.
May 12th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Brett,
I still watch his show, but he’s also a hypocrite with his views. He fires away at people but gives his close friends who would be in those same categories a pass. I still watch it for the panels he puts together.
Which is the best part of his show. Rollins and his show on IFC is better than Maher in every way.
May 12th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Religion…whoops, just puked.
Can’t wait for this one.
May 12th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
I don’t mind if people aren’t religious [I'm Muslim] because, 99% of the time, they’re simply uneducated, but keep mainly to themselves [e.g. how many people who run around going "aha religion is stupid" have actually gone to sites like SunniPath.com and actually tried learning about Islam instead on forming their opinions by blindly following others?]
But Bill Maher is just a jerk, and an uneducated [with regards to religion] jerk at that. PLUS he’s trying to pass of his uninformed views by influencing others.
May 13th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
Making fun of people’s beliefs is VERY American. Preachers in virtually every single church do it every single Sunday. They portray unbelievers as evil and dangerous and blame them for everything under the sun. They claim gays, pagans, humanists, atheists and everyone who is not a christian are all doomed to hell. So what is unAmerican about making fun of these loons?
To make matters worse they try and sneak their religious beliefs in our public high school science classes under the guise of “intelligent design” which is nothing more than creationism with lipstick.
Yeah I’m looking forward to seeing religionists made fun of.
May 14th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
Boris,
Like i said, every religion has their radicals, I (Christian) don’t hate gays, i don’t preach my beliefs to people who arn’t religious, but for you to actually think that all preachers are like Rev. Wright, is just a poor stereotype. I mean comon, you really think that all Muslims are terrorists? it is a shame though, that the media will televise the 1% of radical religious people and make the other normal 99% look bad. I guess you believe what you see.