In a recent USA today colomn Michael Medved described Brokeback Mountain as a "modest" commercial success. This is the letter I wrote to him after reading that.
Mr. Medved,
Your last USA Today column "conceded" (there's no other word for your tone) that Brokeback Mountain was a "modest" commercial success. That film was made for $14M dollars. As of today it has made $78M in domestic box office and another $51M overseas. Brokeback Mountain will make easily ten times its production budget before the first DVD is ever rented or sold.
Two months ago your fellow conservative pundit predicted on the Fox "News" Channel that Brokeback would win the Best Picture Oscar in spite of having been seen by only 18 people. To date he is off by a factor 500,000. That's impressive. But if you think a ten times return on investment is "modest", I'd love to see your personal investment portfolio. No wonder you support those Bush tax cuts.
Shalom,
Frank Paul Venis