FAHRENHEIT 9/11

I'm about to head out to see my local theater's first showing of the doc. (11:50)

Get ready for a week of fun ways which conservatives will try to discredit the movie.

Exhibit A: Matt Drudge has made this story his main headline, in the hope that the Wayans film White Chicks beats Moore's movie at the box office. The idea, of course, is that this will somehow downplay the effect, or success, of Fahrenheit.

When you click on the link, though, you notice something:

Will the flood of attention given to "Fahrenheit 9/11," which Lions Gate and IFC Films will bow in 868 venues, translate into boffo B.O.?

While Michael Moore's pic has dominated headlines this week, it's not the top dog going into the weekend box office race.

Continuing the summer's trend of midweek bows, Sony/Revolution's "White Chicks" opened on Wednesday, taking in $4.2 million from 2,412 locations.

Emphases mine. For those light on math, Chicks is being shown in nearly three times as many theaters as Fahrenheit.

But the most relevant comparison, for those keeping track, is to the box office performance of other documentaries in past years, a measuring stick for which the movie is set to obliterate all records.

Also, documentaries generally thrive on word-of-mouth, and not on blockbuster opening weekends.

Lastly, Dear Lee Rodgers,

You described Michael Moore this morning as a "fiction filmmaker".

I am very glad that you enjoyed Canadian Bacon so much, but you should be interested to know that he also makes fact-based documentaries. TFM suggests you see them before submitting an opinion. After that point, you may challenge whatever facts you like. Jerk.