They say that the definition of madness is doing something over and over again and expecting a different result, but sometimes movies are made for a simple reason: because you can. It certainly doesn’t hurt when funding comes from multi-millionaire John Aglialoro, who has the rights to Ayn Rand‘s famed “Atlas Shrugged,” and seemingly has no problem continuing to lose money on the feature film trilogy. There’s probably an an objectivist lesson in all of this, but we’ll let Aglialoro figure it out himself. At any rate, the third installment in the series no one cares about is coming.
It’s been officially announced that “Atlas Shrugged Part 3” will be written by Duncan Scott (who helmed part two, and edited and produced Rand’s film “We The Living“) and Brian O’Toole, and open in 150 markets in summer 2014. Thus far, parts one and two cost between $10-20 million to make each, but only collectively brought in $8 million at the box office, though apparently home video has shown the movie has some life. And producers are keeping their ambitions high, hoping to shape the midterm elections or something.
“The message of ‘Atlas Shrugged’ is far greater than any particular political movement and our intention is to convey that message as clearly as possible,” producer Harmon Kaslow told THR. “We are ultimately confident that we’re going to have absolutely no direct impact on the looters already entrenched in Washington. We are however equally as confident that if we let ‘Atlas’ speak for itself, we can have an impact on the voters that put them there.”
Thus far critics have not been kind, and unless there is drastic change for number three, that likely won’t change. Anyway, in true Rand-ian fashion, the market will decided if anyone cares about this final installment, which will be made and marketed for less than $10 million.
