Brokeback Mountain Finds a Commercial Audience

With a best picture win from the Golden Globes last week and heaps of praise from pretty much every critic who reviewed it, nobody has ever denied Brokeback Mountain its critical acclaim. However, conservative pundits far and wide have denied anyone other than the liberal Hollywood media will accept hunks Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger as lovers. Turns out they were wrong.

The numbers are in and Brokeback Mountain is undoubtedly a commercial hit, even in the heartland communities where naysayers said it would be shunned. Brokeback is currently playing in 1,196 theaters countrywide, less than half the number of theaters where blockbusters like King Kong and The Chronicles of Narnia are shown. Yet even with its limited release, Brokeback Mountain has still grossed $42 million dollars and registered at number five in the ratings. This number is expected to shoot up considerably if Brokeback Mountain is nominated for a host of Oscars.

For those who indulge in reveling in the punditry's lack of predicting ability, Salon.com posted a list of quotes from journalists who claimed that the movie was only for the liberal elite, including the following choice quips.

"But I don't care about the movie. I'm going to make the prediction. The movie will get a lot of Academy Awards, because again Hollywood is very sympathetic to the gay movement ... But I will submit to you this movie does not do big box office outside the big cities. It won't. They're not going to go see the gay cowboys in Montana. I'm sorry. They're not going to do it." - Bill O'Reilly, "The O'Reilly Factor," Dec. 20, 2005

"'Brokeback Mountain' will have been seen in the theaters by 18 people, but the right 18 and will win the Academy Award." - Charles Krauthammer, "Fox Special Report With Brit Hume," Jan. 2, 2006

"People don't want to see that. They don't want to see two guys going at it. It's that simple ... I think Ang Lee is off his rocker if he thinks he can have the same commercial success with two cowboys instead of a cowboy and a cowgirl, as other movies do." -Robert Knight, director of the Culture and Family Institute at Concerned Women for America, in Salon, Dec. 7, 2005