Right wing media success limited to radio?

[Honus]

I believe that it is beyond dispute that right wing radio kicks butt over left wing radio, but that success does not seem to translate into other media.

Take, for example, this weekend's opening of "An American Carol," the new spoof of Michael Moore. It has some funny people behind it and in the cast, but the previews look just dreadful. And the box office draw seems to be just as bad, especially when compared to the opening of Bill Maher's "Religulous":

Maher Mangles Zucker At the Box Office

I'll put on my Hollywood hat just for a moment so I can lead a chorus of righteous laughter at the colossal failure of the persecuted Hollywood conservatives behind An American Carol.

Here's how the movie fared over the weekend, when stacked up against Bill Maher's Religulous:
Film Box Office Gross # Screens Average
American Carol $3,810,000 1,639 $2,325
Religulous $3,500,000 502 $6,972

What does this tell us?

Both films were in their first week of release, which means that it's apples to apples. Both had the benefit of their opening week marketing pushes.

Note that Religulous, however, was on less than one third of the screens that An American Carol was. Which means that An American Carol should by all rights have done three times the box office of Religulous. But it didn't -- gross box office receipts were largely the same.

The per-screen average of Religulous was three times that of An American Carol. Three times as many people showed up in each theater to see it.

As Atrios notes, there's no way that professional right-wing victims can argue that their humor-free comedy didn't get a good push from the studio.

Bottom line: Hollywood is in the business of making money. There's no conspiracy going on against conservatives. When moviegoers have to vote with their dollars, it's just that nobody wants to see their what they have to offer.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-hamsher/maher-mangles-zucker-at-t_b_132064.html

Likewise, when Fox News tried to do its version of "The Daily Show" with its unbelievably lame "The Half-Hour News Hour", it was an embarrassing failure. That one surprised me because the Fox News people seem like a savvy bunch to me.

What is it about radio that makes it such a great fit for right-wing talk? It seems like its popularity is out of proportion to the popularity of right-wing thought.