THE WITCH has an endorsement that, until today, I was not aware of: The Satantic Temple loved it. The studio A24 sent it to the group, saying it may be a film they liked. They did.. and took it from there.. IndieWire reported back on February 3 2016:
The Satanic Temple has just given the movie an official sanction, declaring it as a “transformative Satanic experience.” In celebration, the group will be launching premiere screenings of “The Witch” beginning in New York City on February 10 that will include interactive performances and ritualized pronouncements of a “new Satanic era.” Screenings will follow in Los Angeles (February 12), Austin (February 16) and Detroit (to be determined).
In an official statement made by The Satanic Temple, the group says it “is confident [the film] will signal the call-to-arms for a Satanic uprising against the tyrannical vestiges of bigoted superstitions, and will harken a new era of liberation and unfettered inquiry.”
VOX noticed something culturally may have shifted. And I cannot disagree..
Just think about this: If the Satanic Temple would have endorsed a horror movie about ten or twelve years ago, the toilet would have had a new clog.
The Bush/Cheney campaign used culture wedge issues to defeat Kerry in close states..
Remember they were going to prevent gay marriage? …That culture war.
And just picture if this would have happened during the Satanic Panics of the 1980s!
Things certainly have changed.
Not only culture but also marketing. The free marketing..
The studio sends a free copy of a movie to a temple …. and suddenly the endorsement of the film becomes a feather in the cap and it, quite frankly, it was all done the cheapest way they could have done it.
From VOX on why Satanists are embracing the film:
Well, when viewed through the lens of the Satanic Temple, spokesperson Jex Blackmore told me, it’s a film about what happens when you realize the Christian patriarchy has some serious problems. (Without spoiling the plot, the movie is mostly told from the point of view of a teenage girl whose family slowly begins to suspect she might be a witch. Things go poorly.)
“The film itself shows the results of a patriarchal theocratic society in the microcosm of the family,” Blackmore told me.
Blackmore especially appreciated the way the film plays up the inherent, feminist tension in the very idea of a witch. “There is an interest in controlling a female figure and in dictating to her what her role is in a society that benefits males,” she told me. And a witch, even in Colonial folk tales that demonized such a figure, stands outside of that.
There may be one last culture war that, at least this weekend, will have a victor: The Satanist endorsed WITCH vs the Christian approved RISEN in box offices.
And the early winner is…………..
Without all studio dollars in, estimates showcase that NEITHER MOVIE REALLY MATTERS. DEADPOOL crossed $200 million. RISEN is third. The WITCH is burning at fourth with the KUNG FU PANDA at 2nd beating them both.
The culture wars matter so little no one wants to even see either movie.