‘Reagan’ Movie Surprises at Box Office, Scores ‘A’ Rating With Audiences
The newly released movie “Reagan,” starring Dennis Quaid, has surpassed box office expectations, earning over $9 million during the Labor Day weekend, making it the fourth highest-grossing film of the weekend. While critics gave the film a mere 18% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, audience response was overwhelming positive, with a 98% score. The film, which depicts the life of Ronald Reagan from his childhood in Illinois to his presidency, is based on a book by Paul Kengor and aims to resonate with contemporary political issues as the country enters an election season.
Audience reactions have been enthusiastic, as evidenced by social media comments highlighting apocalyptic applause in theaters and favorable ratings on CinemaScore, where it received an “A.” The film features Penelope Ann Miller as Nancy Reagan and Jon Voight as a former KGB agent. Reagan’s anti-communist stance, rooted in his Christian upbringing and experiences in Hollywood, serves as a thematic backbone for the portrayal.
Despite initial skepticism from critics, the film’s engaging narrative has led to a promising run at the box office, suggesting that its independent budget of $25 million will likely be recouped through ticket sales and home video releases. Dennis Quaid himself has expressed his reverence for Reagan, indicating that the role was one of the most challenging and rewarding of his career.
The newly released “Reagan’ movie exceeded box office expectations, taking in over $9 million in ticket sales over Labor Day weekend.
Critics, by-and-large, panned the biopic of Ronald Reagan, featuring Dennis Quaid in the lead role, but audiences loved it.
Just 18 percent of professional reviewers gave the film a thumbs up on Rotten Tomatoes, but 98 percent of regular movie goers liked it.
The new Reagan movie has a 98% audience score on opening weekend
Hollywood critics gave it an 18%
When the critics give it a thumbs down, but the audience gives it a standing ovation – guess who’s out of touch?
Spoiler alert:
it’s not the American people pic.twitter.com/WJg7Nf86oO
— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) August 31, 2024
Meanwhile, CinemaScore found audiences graded the film an “A,” the same rating as “Deadpool and Wolverine,” which topped the weekend’s box office and higher than “Alien: Romulus” that came in with a “B+”.
Overall, “Reagan” was fourth in ticket sales for the weekend, with “Deadpool” at the top, followed by “Alien” and romance novel movie “It Ends with Us,” according to Box Office Mojo.
Just finished the Reagan movie. The whole theater burst into applause when it finished. Not a single person left during the credits where they showed actual pics of Reagan throughout his life.
No one was more dedicated to fighting communism than Ronald Reagan. Go see it!🇺🇸
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) September 2, 2024
The Associated Press reported “Reagan’s” projected $9.2 million in sales exceeded expectations going into the Labor Day weekend, which traditionally has not been big for movie goers.
The independent film’s budget was an estimated $25 million, meaning it should easily turn a profit in the weeks ahead at the box office coupled with a likely strong run in the home video and on-demand market.
“Reagan” tells the story of the 40th president, taking the audience from his boyhood in Dixon, Illinois, all the way to his iconic presidency.
The cast includes Penelope Ann Miller as Nancy Reagan and Oscar-winning actor Jon Voight as Viktor Petrovich, a former KGB agent, who frames the story by explaining how Reagan oversaw the defeat of the Soviet Union.
The movie is based on the 2007 book, “The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism” by Paul Kengor.
Reagan’s desire to defeat communism abroad and at home are rooted in his Christian upbringing and early experiences with it in Hollywood as an actor and president of the Screen Actors Guild, according to the film.
The subject matter of “Reagan” translates very well to present times, especially with the country in an election season, and issues like the economy, domestic unrest, and menacing adversaries abroad like communist China and Iran front-and-center.
Quaid told Blaze Media host Glenn Beck that the movie “was the scariest role of my life. It’s now my favorite movie that I’ve ever done.”
Dennis Quaid joined me at my ranch for a special episode of The Glenn Beck Podcast about his new movie, “Reagan”: “It was the scariest role of my life. It’s now my favorite movie that I’ve ever done.” pic.twitter.com/NqhQZChZkK
— Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) September 1, 2024
The actor said that Reagan was his favorite president.
He was a young boy when he first became aware of him politically in 1964, when Reagan delivered what became known as “the speech” (A Time for Choosing) that launched his career into public office, first as California’s governor in 1966 and later as president in 1980.
Quaid happened to hear the speech on the radio as he and his dad were driving through Texas.
Reagan famously said in that speech in support of Republican Barry Goldwater’s presidential bid, “You and I are told increasingly we have to choose between a left or right. Well I’d like to suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There’s only an up or down – [up] man’s old-aged dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order, or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism.”
Reagan exhorted, “You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We’ll preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we’ll sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness.”
Quaid said, “It really is an incredible speech.”
The star actor, now enjoying a positive audience response to his latest film, added: “[Reagan] was probably my biggest hero… He won the Cold War.”
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