Reaction to the Conservative Daily Wire’s Hollywood Debut Speaks Volumes

January 9th, 2021 1:30 PM

Deadline.com leans reliably to the Left, but the news outlet played it straight this week for a big announcement.

The site revealed The Daily Wire’s first feature film will be “Run Hide Fight,” a Die Hard-style thriller set during a school shooting.

 

 

Daily Wire has picked up North American rights to the Venice title, about a 17-year-old who must fight for her life and those of her schoolmates against a group of live-streaming terrorists. Isabel May, Thomas Jane and Radha Mitchell star in the film, whose first full trailer we can now reveal.

The Daily Wire announced over the weekend it plans to start producing original films and TV shows for a right-of-center audience.

(Editor’s Note: This reporter is a contributor to The Daily Wire)

Other film sites followed up on the news, most using it to smite The Daily Wire and conservatives in general. The very worst example comes from FirstShowing.Net:

This is not a film we support, especially because the people releasing it are so deranged, but a trailer is out for anyone to watch anyway… worst of all, it’s being distributed by a hardcore right-wing propaganda organization.

Fair. Balanced. Not remotely unhinged.

Next came PunchDrunkCritics.com, another site offering sober analysis of the transaction.

Daily Wire, the right-wing news source co-created by the ridiculous grievance peddler Ben Shapiro, is getting into the film and TV distribution game. Run Hide Fight is their big opening salvo, but they have at least two series projects and a feature on the way.

“Run Hide Fight is ultimately a movie about courage in the face of evil,” said Boreing. “This is a gut-wrenching film that does not offer easy talking points, which is why liberal Hollywood executives have refused to distribute it.”

Oh shut the f*** up, dude.

The Playlist covered the announcement, too, with slightly less rage.

Slightly.

The Daily Wire is co-founded by Ben Shapiro (someone that is well-known for his conservative hot takes and ludicrous, offensive rants), and the site has always been known as a hotbed for ultra-conservative viewpoints and right-wing extremism.

The big surprise came courtesy of Awards Daily. The site leaves out the invectives and covers why The Daily Wire acquisition matters.

We all know there are movies that don’t get picked up by Hollywood distributors because they are deemed “problematic.” We know that films that glorify our utopian vision for our lives tend to do better in this climate. But unfortunately the best art can’t do that and remain provocative. Art must push and poke and prod at humanity, otherwise what is the point?

…Daily Wire is getting into the production, development and distribution game, which means a broader offerings overall for people who don’t necessarily always want to be sold a singular view of what life should be like, which is where so much of films – especially those in the Oscar race — find themselves…

What I hope doesn’t happen is that actors and artists involved in these films are chased and harassed online so that it damages their careers to get work. I feel pretty sure that is what will happen to some extent, but I’m holding out hope that it won’t. Competition is healthy in all things, especially art.

Honest. Refreshing. Liberal in the very best sense of the word.

What do these sites all have in common, though? They actually covered the announcement.

Guess who didn’t? Several conservative sites ignored both The Daily Wire’s initial announcement as well as news of its first official feature. For all the caterwauling conservatives do regarding Hollywood’s leftward lurch you’d think they would cover, if not overtly cheer on, The Daily Wire’s project.

Kudos to ChicksOnTheRight.com for bucking the trend and giving the news a forum. (UPDATE: The Federalist also explored the big picture behind The Daily Wire’s move.)

It’s common for conservatives to look back on the life and work of media mogul Andrew Breitbart and predict what he might say about current events.

That’s a dicey proposition given he’s no longer here to weigh in personally. Still, his essential book “Righteous Indignation” left a blueprint that too many conservative web sites forgot. Breitbart often took a big news story and dissected it into smaller, potent news bites. He didn’t publish them all at his signature sites, though. He often spread the exclusives around to other right-leaning news outlets.

More exposure. More power. More ways to unite the conservative movement.

Here’s guessing the man who taught us politics is downstream of culture wouldn’t be shocked that liberal journalists would try derailing a conservative effort to diversity Hollywood.

He might be aghast to see so many conservative journalists look the other way.

[Cross-posted from Hollywood in Toto.]