Leftists are crawling all over Hollywood.
But despite entertainers’ far-left views, the film industry is still a business.
One major studio just found out that truth the hard way.
Paint the Town Red
It’s no secret Hollywood leans far left.
But it wasn’t always that way.
There used to be prominent conservative filmmakers like Frank Capra.
Leftists existed as well, but they didn’t have a monopoly.
And the actual communists met in secret during the McCarthy era.
Now they exist out in the open.
They just use euphemisms like “progressive” or “democratic socialist.”
And while Joe McCarthy went too far in his efforts, the left successfully rewrote the history of the era.
The story of McCarthyism isn’t the overzealousness of one senator.
It’s the fact there was an intricate communist conspiracy determined to subvert the United States.
Communists in America took their orders from the Soviet Union.
And they made propaganda films.
For example, “Mission to Moscow” told the story of an American politician who visits the “glorious” USSR, then comes home to preach the wonders of communism.
Leftists make propaganda to this day.
They’re only slightly more subtle about it.
O’Sullivan’s Law
A recent example of agitprop is the film “Sorry To Bother You.”
The film was written and directed by Boots Riley, an avowed communist.
His blatantly anti-capitalist movie was produced by Annapurna Pictures.
Annapurna is run by Megan Ellison, the daughter of multi-billionaire Oracle founder Larry Ellison.
Larry Ellison is a Republican, but his daughter is a raging leftist.
This is a common phenomenon.
Ford, Rockefeller, Carnegie, Vanderbilt, and others were conservative titans of industry whose foundations all became leftist.
British political commentator John O’Sullivan theorized that “all organizations that are not actually right-wing will over time become left-wing.”
All it takes is one heir to steer the ship in a completely different direction.
This is the case with Megan Ellison.
She doesn’t have any of her father’s business savvy or financial discipline.
And it’s showing in her company.
Annapurna is tightening the purse strings after profligate spending.
A string of left-wing flops with bloated budgets has the company reeling.
“Detroit” cost $40 million, but only made $16 million.
Their upcoming Dick Cheney film cost $60 million, and almost certainly won’t make its money back.
They also pulled the plug on a film about the recently-deceased Fox News chief Roger Ailes, which cost $35 million.
A source close to Ellison told The Wrap, “She makes bad decisions.”
Her father, who’s bankrolling the company, seems to agree.
The source continued, “She wanted to chase all these expensive movies that weren’t going to make money, and she said, ‘I don’t care whether they make money.’ That’s not how you run a company.”
It most certainly is not.
Now she’s feeling the pain.
Give the People What They Want
This year marked the second worst summer box office of the last 25 years.
Hollywood is doing a poor job of satisfying viewers.
There are too many executives who share Ellison’s attitude.
They’re more concerned with pushing an agenda than making films people actually want to see.
Not all films have to be blockbusters, but the niche films don’t need bloated budgets.
This is where Ellison’s ego gets in the way.
And she’s paying dearly for it.