All I can say is "Woohoo!" This is one of the best headlines I've seen in a long time:

Box-office power of Ayn Rand’s ‘Atlas Shrugged’ baffles insiders

The power of Ayn Rand devotees has impressed some Hollywood distribution executives, who took note of the hefty $5,640 per-theater average scored by “Atlas Shrugged: Part 1” during its opening weekend.

“Shocking,” one executive said about the healthy business the low-budget film has been doing, considering its “awful” marketing plan.

Awful or not, business has been brisk enough for producers Harmon Kaslow and John Aglialoro to expand from 299 theaters to 425 this weekend and to 1,000 by the end of the month. They don’t have enough film prints to fill all the orders.

“Things have turned for us,” Kaslow said. “When we started, exhibitors were not embracing the film like we thought they would. Now, we can pretty much go into as many theaters as we want. It’s just a matter of logistics.”

The producers stand by their marketing campaign, which relied heavily on the Internet to drum up support among members of the Tea Party, libertarians and other Rand enthusiasts.

(HT: Instapundit and Atlas Shrugged Movie blog) 

And here's another one of the best headlines I've seen in a long time:

Atlas Shrugged Movie Boosts Book to #4 on Amazon Bestseller List

Here’s a marketing question I thought I’d never ask: Would you think that a critically panned, low-budget movie, with a virtually unknown director and cast, could catapult a more than 50 year-old book near the top of the Amazon bestseller list? Well, exactly that appears to be happening with the movie adaptation of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged.

…

… Atlas fans will likely flock to cinemas if only to see whether the long-awaited movie adaptation lives up to their expectations. After this initial surge, the movie will have to stand on its own merits.

But more importantly: all signs point to the fact that the mere existence of the movie is causing interest in the book to spike to new heights. According to Google Trends, search volume for “Atlas Shrugged” has never been greater. Even more impressively, the book has surged to #4 on the Amazon bestseller list as of this writing. Likely it won’t stay quite that high for weeks on end, but expect book sales to remain elevated for some time to come. Atlas Shrugged has been in the top 100 of the Amazon bestseller list for 268 days. The movie makes it all the more likely it will still be in the top 100 268 from now.

Atlas Shrugged completely dominates Amazon's "Classic Literature and Fiction" section:

Three different forms of the Atlas Shrugged novel — kindle edition, paperback, and audiobook — currently top the “Classic Literature & Fiction” section in Amazon’s bestseller list.

Screen shot shown below. Click for full-size.

Here's more info on how Atlas Shrugged has been hot on Google:

According to Google, on Friday 15 April 2011, the day of the movie’s release:

• ‘atlas shrugged’ was the #4 most searched keyword
• ‘ayn rand’ was the #12 most searched keyword
• ‘atlas shrugged movie’ was the #14 most searched keyword

Screen shot attached below. Click the thumbnail for full-size image.

UPDATE: I just noticed that Google Trends shows Denver as the top city for "atlas shrugged" searches. Cool!

Via the Atlas Shrugged Movie blog, here are a couple of articles/reviews to check out: 

• Vin Suprynowicz: The enormous disconnect between 'mainstream' professional reviews and viewer response to 'Atlas Shrugged The Movie, Part I' 
• Michael Shermer: Atlas Shrugged, But You Shouldn't

I'm going to see the film again this weekend. Which will still leave me behind Nathaniel Branden.

Have you seen it yet? If not, will you go this weekend? If you have, will you go again? Please?

I saw Atlas Shrugged, Part 1, this weekend and thoroughly enjoyed it, despite its shortcomings. I'll be frank, the limited budget and rushed schedule definitely show. But they don't detract from a great story for the most part well told. If you read and liked the novel, you'll love the film and it's a must-see. If you never read it (shame on you!), but you're inclined toward libertarian, free-market conservative, or Tea Party thinking, likewise.

If you hated the book and/or are basically an Obama-loving Socialist Democrat — well, you wouldn't like the film no matter how lavish or excellent a production it was.

Because of the budget constraints, the film keeps outdoor scenes to a minimum and relies on a lot of stock footage. It's mostly stock footage of Colorado (plus some rail yards and steel mills), so that's not so bad.

Taylor Schilling is excellent as Dagny Taggart, and Grant Bowler is quite good as Hank Rearden. I was disappointed with Jsu Garcia's Francisco D'Anconia. OTOH, Rebecca Wisocky does a fine job as Lillian Rearden.

Graham Beckel is a terrific Ellis Wyatt. He's one of those fine character actors you've probably seen many times, but never remember his name. I didn't know, until hearing him interviewed by Hugh Hewitt recently, that he's the brother of Democratic operative Bob Beckel. He doesn't share his brother's political views.

The villains are all suitably smarmy and villainous, although I thought Matthew Marsden's James Taggart wasn't sufficiently whiny and dependent. It was clear that Dagny's brother was incompetent and useless, but not why. That's one of the problems with bringing this novel to the screen: there's little time to explore the psychology of the characters (and the psychology of the villains is an important aspect of Atlas Shrugged). So the burden falls on the actor to understand his character's psyche and convey it with every look, gesture, and word. Marsden didn't do that. 

When a 1000-page novel is brought to the screen, somebody's favorite vignette or subplot is going to be left out or glossed over. I was disappointed that the story of the 20th Century Motor Company was given such short shrift. That section also contained a bit of dialogue that made me wince: a bunch of mumbo-jumbo about the motor that Dagny and Hank found. They should have axed the nonsense about "vacuum pressure," simply said, "it looks like it's designed to extract static electricity from the air," and left it at that.

I also didn't like the way the meeting with Hugh Akston was handled or the way Michael O'Keefe portrayed him.

Enough quibbling. I was quite pleased overall. The film did a good job — a remarkably good job, given the constraints — of telling the first third of the story. And the ending was outstanding. An intense, moving scene that Taylor Schilling handled superbly.

It left me absolutely looking forward to Part 2, which will benefit from a somewhat bigger budget and much less rushed schedule. It's due to be released on April 15, 2012. Just in time to fire up all the fans for the election season.

See my previous post for links to find a theater, watch the trailer and clips, etc. 

Atlas Shrugged, Part 1 opens this Friday in 300 theaters nationwide. Go here to find a theater near you. The Atlasphere has created a site dedicated to the movie. In addition to reading the latest news and reviews, you can watch the trailer and clips from the film.

This is an independent film being released and marketed in an unorthodox way. The Atlasphere's Joshua Zader emphasized (via email) how important it is for fans of Ayn Rand to show their support this opening weekend and beyond: 

All of us who love Ayn Rand's novels should bring our friends to see the
movie on the opening weekend. This is hugely important; it shows theater
owners how much demand there is for this independently produced and
distributed movie based on Ayn Rand's revolutionary novel.

Equally important, though, is to go back the following weekend — with even
more friends. This helps demonstrate the movie's momentum in no uncertain
terms, and will draw even more theaters on board.

I'll go see it either Friday after work or Saturday afternoon (haven't decided yet). I hope you'll do the same. From everything I've read and seen, this film very much deserves your support and will reward you for it.

The Atlasphere is publishing a series of reviews this week of the movie Atlas Shrugged, Part 1. The first review, by Hans Schantz, is quite positive, with just a few mild criticisms:

The movie’s most serious flaw is that it feels too rushed. An additional ten or fifteen minutes would have helped make clear the nature of the villainy, and driven home the way in which Dagny’s heroic achievement — bringing the John Galt Line to life — only enabled the looters to complete their destruction of Ellis Wyatt and his Colorado industrial renaissance.

This flaw could be remedied in the second part of the trilogy, however, and meantime we can hope for an extended “director’s cut” version on the DVD.

Despite the film’s rushed feel, the dialogue and acting were remarkably solid, even brilliant, at times. …
…

A viewer determined to nitpick the film will find no shortage of material. In fact, I was so concerned with picking out the minor flaws that it seriously detracted from my appreciation the first time around. When I relaxed and watched the movie the second time, I found it much more enjoyable.

The film’s flaws are due much more to the rushed production than the modest budget. I can’t wait to see what the producers will be able to do in part two, with a more relaxed schedule and, hopefully, more generous financing.

Despite the occasional rough edge, Atlas Shrugged Part 1 is a great movie, true to Ayn Rand’s classic novel. This exciting, fast paced, and breathtaking romp provides an easy introduction to Ayn Rand’s ideas. Inspired viewers will then be motivated to read the novel, to satisfy their burning desire to learn more.

The film is scheduled to open on April 15. I'm sure the date is not coincidental, and the desire to hit it may have led to the rushed production that Schantz commented on. 

Watch the trailer. 

[YouTube link]

Then help make sure the film plays in a theater near you. Click the button below. 

View all Atlas Shrugged Part 1 tour dates