You may have heard that Michael Bay's Benghazi is the biggest flop of his entire career but even the film's meager ticket sales can largely be traced to southern red states according to Variety.
“13 Hours'” box office performance reflected the film’s divisive nature. The action thriller did well in red states, generating 41% of the $19 million it stands to make this weekend from theaters in the South. Those areas out-performed blue states by 25%. Most other releases this weekend made up 33% of their grosses in these regions.
If his comments are taken at face value, Paramount's vice-chairman makes it appear as though executives were caught off guard by the film's sensitive subject matter.
“It feels like it was hard for people to buy a ticket if they were more liberal leaning,” said Rob Moore, Paramount’s vice-chairman. “It’s sad that this gets turned into a political debate as opposed to a conversation about who did the right thing and who was heroic.”
If this is any indication, Paramount was apparently oblivious to the "political debate" that's been been waged for going-on four years.
Americans have been repeatedly beat over the head with Benghazi! beginning with former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney in 2012 and ending with Hillary Clinton's 11-hour testimony in front of the Select Benghazi Committee in 2015. Personally I'd rather see a movie about Clinton's testimony rather than the jingoistic fan-fiction of "13 Hours."
And to be clear, there's no shortage of factual errors in the film including the infamous "stand down" order that was never actually given. Even the CIA has spoken out against it.
According to the officer in charge of the CIA’s Benghazi base that night, the scene in the movie is entirely untrue.
“There never was a stand-down order,” said the base chief known as Bob, speaking publicly for the first time. “At no time did I ever second-guess that the team would depart.” [...]
“No one will mistake this movie for a documentary,” CIA spokesman Ryan Trapani said. “It’s a distortion of the events and people who served in Benghazi that night. It’s shameful that, in order to highlight the heroism of some, those responsible for the movie felt the need to denigrate the courage of other Americans who served in harm’s way.”
Unfortunately, too many Americans have mistaken it for a documentary. The entire GOP presidential field, for example.
The Republican-controlled House Armed Services Committee and Intelligence Committee both verified that no "stand down" order was issued.