Several NYC theaters aren’t screening ‘Reagan’ movie in what Republicans are calling ‘liberal bias’ censorship
That’s no way to treat “the Gipper” — Ronald Reagan, the 40th president of the United States.
Several theaters in New York City and much of the metro region didn’t screen the new film “Reagan,” about the conservative icon and actor, in what Republicans are alleging is an act of censorship by “liberal bias.”
The few theaters that did show the flick had limited screenings to once or twice a day.
“Ronald Reagan was one of the most successful presidents in history. They’re trying to censor his success,” said John McLaughlin, a Republican pollster who worked for a firm that conducted surveys for Reagan in the 1980s.
He suspected the limited distribution was over liberal fears that the movie about a popular Republican president — who won re-election in a landslide in 1984, carrying 49 of 50 states — would benefit Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
“Absolutely it’s liberal bias, Democratic bias … It’s big Tech, Big Media that doesn’t want to do something to help Donald Trump,” McLaughlin claimed.
The film stars Dennis Quaid as Reagan, Penelope Ann Miller as Nancy Reagan, Jon Voight as a KGB agent, and Mena Suvari as Jane Wyman, Reagan’s first wife. It first hit theaters just before Labor Day.
Quaid, who is conservative, claimed there were attempts to “cancel” him while portraying Reagan.
The actor spoke at a Donald Trump rally in California on Saturday.
State Conservative Party chairman Gerard Kassar said he was surprised at how few theaters showed the movie, particularly on his Brooklyn turf.
“It’s ironic that a movie about Ronald Reagan is having a problem getting into movie theaters,” he said, noting Reagan’s time on the big screen before entering politics.
“It’s a presidential year. It’s liberal bias. It’s anti-conservative bias,” Kassar said.
Reagan earned the nickname “the Gipper” for his first big role as an actor portraying gravely ill football player George Gipp in the 1940 film classic “Knute Rockne, All American.”
Gipp, bedridden and known as the Gipper, urged his college teammates to win a football game in his honor.
“Win one for the Gipper,” Reagan says in the film.
Controversy has followed “Reagan” — directed by Sean McNamara — even before it was playing in theaters.
When the movie was about to launch, producers grew concerned over whether Facebook and Instagram would allow promotion and advertising for it given its political subject matter.
Craig Shirley, a Reagan biographer and history consultant for the movie, said the biopic did well in the suburbs and rural areas but it may have hit a wall in liberal-leaning enclaves like New York City.
“I assume there was some resistance — some woke resistance,” Shirley said.
US Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), who represents Staten Island and Brooklyn, thinks politics limited the distribution of “Reagan” in the Big Apple.
“Reagan was one of the best presidents this country ever had and his defeat of Jimmy Carter was not dissimilar to today’s campaign. The campaigns of Reagan and Trump both focus on delivering national security, public safety, a prosperous economy and affordability,” Malliotakis said.
“I’m sure many theaters in liberal New York did not show the movie because history is repeating itself and they hope no one noticed that Democrats have made a mess and it will take a Republican like Trump to clean it up.”
Mark Joseph, founder and CEO of MJM Entertainment Group, which produced “Reagan,” declined comment.
The distributor of the movie, ShowBiz Direct, said it offered the Reagan biopic to all theaters across the country, and said it was up to the cinemas on whether to show it or not. Â
“We made the picture available in all areas of the country regardless of the political persuasion of any individual marketplace. In a free market environment movie theatres have the ability to play a particular movie or not. We can only appeal to their sense of good business judgement, based upon their individual knowledge of their audiences,” said Richie Fay, an executive with Showbiz Direct.
“Any issues having to do with screenings in any individual area lies more with the exhibitors in the NY market and surrounding areas, than with the distributor of the film who solicited any and all theatres to play the film in all the marketplaces  across the country.” added Fay.
