Palin Film Starts Soft, but Distributor Pleased

By Daniel Frankel

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap) - Sarah Palin documentary "The Undefeated" got off to a soft start in a lightly promoted 10-theater box-office debut this weekend, grossing somewhere between $65,000-$75,000, according to estimates confirmed by distributor ARC Entertainment.

Still, ARC Entertainment isn't admitting defeat, declaring the film's limited opening "strong" while pointing to several sold-out performances.

"We are extremely pleased with the audience reaction, which has been over-the-top enthusiastic and very passionate, including standing ovations at most screenings," said ARC CEO Trevor Drinkwater. "We expect word-of-mouth to keep ticket sales strong and we will definitely expand the film to a wider national audience. With merely three weeks of preparation and a virtually non-existent traditional advertising spend, the film did exceptionally well."

Written and directed by conservative filmmaker Stephen Bannon, and featuring commentary from the right-wing elite, the film details Palin's rise from simple hockey mom to defeated vice presidential candidate and mid-term gubernatorial dropout. The narrative tells the story in the happy way the "mainstream media" purportedly refuses to.

"The demographic is clearly the Heartland," Drinkwater told TheWrap, referring to a list of opening locations that includes Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Denver, Phoenix, Orlando, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Oklahoma City and Orange, California.