One of the biggest box office failures of 2022 was Terror on the Meadow, the Ben Shapiro-directed Western starring Gina Carano. It marked Carano’s first starring role since being fired from “The Mandalorian” over a series of social media posts that many viewed as anti-Semitic. The film grossed just $804 in its one-day theatrical run, despite the star power the actress could wield on the political right.
The film was intended to be part of The Daily Wire’s stated strategy of creating films that entertain audiences without what they see as overt messages, but without being overtly conservative.
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“We create entertainment-first content, challenging content, for adults,” Daily Wire co-founder and CEO Jeremy Boring told IndieWire in a recent interview about the company’s film strategy. Two things that will make the difference [a Daily Wire film] is the fact that it speaks broadly to values that conservatives align on, not strictly conservative values. We’re not creating a Hillary Hard Drive story and making players find Jesus in the third act.”
But while Terror in the Meadows represented the right-wing media’s most serious attempt at a mainstream film to date, it failed to resonate with its target audience. A new story from The AV Club revealed that there are still some extreme online personalities who thought the film was too “woke.” Many of them took to the comments sections of Twitter and IMDB to complain about the film’s male characters not acting manly enough while letting Carano’s heroine save the day.
For his part, Carano denies that he made any morally or financially bad decisions. Not recently Twitter threadHe stood by the actions that led to his cancellation and blamed the groupthink of journalists for his downfall.
“I didn’t hit the bag, I just didn’t agree with the sold narrative, the online crowd couldn’t handle it, so they asked me to be fired and win. I don’t regret it. I stood up for what I believe is right, and the more time passes, the better I feel,” he wrote. “The real bag bust is selling out journalists like you who have sold out America and stopped asking questions to please the fickle manipulated crowd. That’s what you appreciated, and that will be your legacy.”
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