Alex Gibney's 'Musk' documentary struggles at box office as distributor cites ad removals
Alex Gibney's nearly four-hour documentary 'Musk' has earned under $700K in theaters. Its distributor blames repeated social media ad removals and moves up the home release to November 6, while a right-leaning commentator calls the film a boring flop.
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The story, neutrally told
Mixed · 2"Musk", Alex Gibney's nearly four-hour documentary about Elon Musk, has performed poorly at the box office. IndieWire puts its total at $672K in three weeks, and Hot Air cites $643,432 as of Sunday, per Box Office Mojo. IndieWireLC “The film’s box office, just $672K in three weeks, has been extremely disappointing.” Read at IndieWire ↗ Hot AirR “as of Sunday, had earned $643,432, according to Box Office Mojo.” Read at Hot Air ↗ Right · 1According to Hot Air, the film opened Oct. 16 after a test run on four screens. Its columnist says the film has been pulled from almost all theaters and played to near-empty rooms in Manhattan. Hot AirR “Musk opened Oct. 16 after a test run on four screens”“It was such a box-office flop it’s been pulled from almost all theaters.” Read at Hot Air ↗ Left · 1Bleecker Street, the film's distributor, says social media platforms repeatedly treated its ads as political content. Meta and YouTube each pulled its paid trailer before restoring it, saying the removal was an error. TikTok suspended the film's account for two days over the weekend the film expanded to 500 theaters, and X, which Musk owns, did not run the ads at all, according to IndieWire. IndieWireLC “Meta and YouTube each pulled distributor Bleecker Street‘s paid trailer for the film before later restoring it, saying its removal was in error.”“X, which is owned by Musk, predictably didn’t play ball at all.” Read at IndieWire ↗
Left · 1Bleecker Street CEO Kent Sanderson told IndieWire he could not put a dollar figure on the lost advertising but said it undoubtedly hurt the film. He said re-edited trailers without footage of Musk at Trump rallies were still flagged. He called the process frustrating and not transparent, and said it is "about free speech". IndieWireLC “Sanderson explained his team would try and amend the situation by editing the trailer to remove footage of Elon at Trump rallies, and the new trailer would still be flagged.”““It is beyond just the film business. It is about free speech and being able to amplify you’re your message,”” Read at IndieWire ↗ Left · 1Sanderson also pointed to other factors: a crowded weekend of new releases, and the difficulty exhibitors have in keeping a four-hour film on screens. He said exhibitors were never reluctant to play it for political reasons. IndieWireLC “But Sanderson stressed that exhibitors themselves were never hesitant to play the movie, and it wasn’t a fight to get screens for any political reasons.” Read at IndieWire ↗ Left · 1Bleecker Street has moved the premium video-on-demand (PVOD) release up to November 6. Pre-orders at $20 are outpacing "The Odyssey" on Apple, and Sanderson expects it to be the most pre-ordered movie of his career. He said talks with HBO and HBO Max about streaming continue, despite doubts raised after Musk invested $1 billion in Skydance, which now owns HBO. IndieWireLC “Bleecker is moving up the PVOD release date of “Musk” to November 6 after slating it for late in November.”“Pre-orders for the film, priced at $20, have been outpacing “The Odyssey” on Apple” Read at IndieWire ↗
Left · 1Sanderson confirmed that a legal letter from Musk's lawyer to Gibney and the film team is genuine, but said Musk has not contacted Bleecker Street directly. IndieWire notes that Musk has given $276 million to Republican groups and his super PAC since July, ahead of the midterms, citing the New York Times. IndieWireLC “Sanderson confirmed the veracity of a legal letter that Musk’s lawyer sent to Gibney and the film team but said Musk has not contacted Bleecker Street directly.”“$276 million to Republican groups and his super PAC” Read at IndieWire ↗ Mixed · 2Hot Air's columnist calls the film "Luddite fearmongering and left-wing sermonizing" and says it fuels Democrats' hostility to Musk. IndieWire says the film is not political for most of its runtime and covers Musk's wider influence. Hot AirR “an excruciatingly boring four hours of Luddite fearmongering and left-wing sermonizing” Read at Hot Air ↗ IndieWireLC “It’s a film about this singular man’s influence on the world and covers far more ground than his involvement with Trump administration or the midterms.” Read at IndieWire ↗
Every sentence links to the reporting it rests on. The pill in front of each says where its sources sit: Left, Centre or Right when one side supplies at least half of them, Mixed when they are evenly split. The number is how many outlets it cites.
Left1 outlet
- Framing
- Industry reporting that treats the poor box office as partly caused by platform ad suppression, led by the distributor's CEO, and frames it as a free-speech issue.
- Emphasis
- Ad removals on Meta, YouTube, TikTok and X; strong PVOD pre-orders; Sanderson's account.
- Leaves out or plays down
- Offers no critical reviews of the film or independent confirmation of the suppression claims beyond the distributor.
- Charged language
- “suppression”“shadow ban”
- For example
-
“But the documentary has been treated as political by every social media platform the film has tried to advertise on.” — IndieWire
Centre0 outlets
No centre outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.
Right1 outlet
- Framing
- Opinion piece dismissing the film as a boring partisan hit piece and a flop that feeds Democratic anger at Musk.
- Emphasis
- Empty Manhattan screenings, box-office total, the film's perceived politics.
- Leaves out or plays down
- Does not mention the ad removals, the distributor's explanation or the PVOD pre-order surge.
- Charged language
- “Hit-Piece”“Luddite fearmongering”“left-wing sermonizing”“green-hairs”
- For example
-
“The movie is so awful that even in Musk-loathing Manhattan it played to empty theaters” — Hot Air
What every side reports
- 'Musk' is a nearly four-hour documentary that has earned well under $700K at the box office.
- The film has performed poorly in theaters.
Where accounts differ
-
Why the film performed poorly
- Left
- The distributor says repeated ad removals on social platforms undoubtedly hurt it, alongside a crowded release schedule and the film's length.
- Right
- The columnist says the film is boring and one-sided, and audiences stayed away.
Bleecker Street organisation
Says platforms repeatedly removed or blocked its ads as political content, hurting the release, and that this raises free-speech concerns.
“It just happened over and over again throughout the campaign of assets going up and then being taken down” — IndieWire
Left1 article
-
Bleecker Street CEO on Why the Social Media Suppression of ‘Musk’ Is About Much More Than Film
Sympathetic Interview-driven trade piece that relays the distributor's view that the film was unfairly suppressed online.
Centre0 articles
No coverage yet.
Right1 article
-
Hot AirR · · Opinion
Dreadful Elon Musk Hit-Piece Documentary Only Serves to Fuel Dems’ Frenzy Against Him
Dismissive First-person opinion mocking the film as boring, partisan and a box-office failure.
- 29 Oct 20:00 First Hot AirR Dreadful Elon Musk Hit-Piece Documentary Only Serves to Fuel Dems’ Frenzy Against Him Opinion
- 29 Oct 20:15 +15m IndieWireLC Bleecker Street CEO on Why the Social Media Suppression of ‘Musk’ Is About Much More Than Film
Times are when each article was published, or when we first saw it if the outlet gave no time.
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