Kristen Stewart’s WELCOME TO THE RILEYS: My Own Private Controversy

James Gandolfini, Kristen Stewart in Jake Scott’s Welcome to the Rileys

Of all my posts to date, none has attracted as much attention — in sheer number of comments — as the one titled "Kristen Stewart’s WELCOME TO THE RILEYS Plummets."

Needless to say, most of the comments were negative; among those, quite a few were unrelentingly abusive (none of which was approved), including attacks on my character, my intelligence, and even my manhood. One commenter went as far as to call for a boycott against Alt Film Guide and have it disseminated on Twitter.

Part of the reason for the barrage of attacks was a misconstrued joke (later deleted) about Stewart’s fans on Twitter; others, however, were outraged simply because I dared to report the truth: Welcome to the Rileys had bombed in its first two weekends out.

And before any ultra-sensitive soul perceives this post as an attack against Kristen Stewart fans, let me assure you that’s not the case at all.

Young or old, black or white, dead or alive or zombiefied, every movie star, soccer player, rock singer, pulp novelist, American Idol competitor, serial killer, has his/her fans — some of those admirers are sane; others are totally demented. That’s how it goes. (Except in the case of serial killers, whose admirers are all demented.)

In fact, just yesterday I was called a "fucking faggot" because I stated that Harrison Ford’s box-office pull isn’t what it used to be. But hey, it isn’t; Morning Glory is just the latest instance in a trend that began years ago. Psychos, however, couldn’t care less about facts.

Now, on the positive side my Welcome to the Rileys post also received some welcome attention from both Stewart fans and non-fans — e.g., @Selene, @Puaena, @DrownInIt, and @tam, to name four belonging to either group. Those commenters took the trouble of challenging and/or questioning my and/or others’ assertions in a rational manner.

Although I didn’t — and still don’t — agree with every point they made (and I’m sure that goes both ways), they have forced me to delve deeper into the matter at hand.

After being in touch with @Selene on Twitter, I decided to write this post — an attempt to answer a few of their questions/remarks, while comparing the box-office performance of Welcome to the Rileys to other similar movies.

Now, be forewarned: I don’t come up with specific reasons as to why Welcome to the Rileys has thus far failed in North America. I merely raise several possibilities.

Also, please note: This Kristen Stewart/Welcome to the Rileys post has turned out to be much longer than I’d initially planned. As a result, it has been split into five consecutive parts. See links at the bottom of each piece.