Roger Ailes documentary earns less than $13K at box office

A new documentary on former Fox News CEO and Chairman Roger Ailes earned just $12,431 on Friday and Saturday after its release, according to ComScore data first reported by The Hollywood Reporter (THR).

The film, “Divide and Conquer: The Story of Roger Ailes,” was released to just 13 theaters, putting its two-day location average gross at $900. It also was simultaneously released on video on-demand.

{mosads}The Ailes documentary performed best in New York, grossing $2,990.00 at one location in Manhattan. Conversely, the film earned just $190.00 at a theatre in Baltimore and $236.00 at a theatre in Columbus, Ohio, meaning just 26 people showed up to see the film in those two locations, according to data compiled by THR’s Pamela McClintock.

Ailes died in May 2017, just 10 months after his departure from Fox News amid sexual harassment allegations.

Ailes resigned from Fox in July 2016 just two weeks after Gretchen Carlson, then a Fox afternoon host, accused him of making unwanted sexual advances, prompting an internal investigation. Multiple women, including then-Fox prime-time host Megyn Kelly, came forward. Ailes denied the accusations up until his death.

He launched Fox News in 1996 and quickly built it into a juggernaut that has commanded the cable news landscape. The network has topped its competition for the past 203 consecutive months — dating back to 2001 — while being the most-watched channel on basic cable for the past 29 months.

“Divide and Conquer” is one of three offerings on Ailes. Actor John Lithgow will play him in an upcoming, still-to-be-named biopic. The Emmy award winner will join a star-studded cast that includes Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie and Charlize Theron.

Academy Award-winning actor Russell Crowe will also portray Ailes in Showtime’s adaptation of Gabriel Sherman’s book, “The Loudest Voice in the Room.” The Crowe Ailes project will run as a limited series, reportedly to air in 2019 .

The top-grossing movie for the past weekend was Disney’s “Ralph Breaks The Internet,” taking in an estimated $16.1 million.

–This report was updated at 1:25 p.m.