Universal hesitates to release Alex Gibney Elon Musk documentary in North America
Universal Pictures, owned by Comcast, appears to be moving toward canceling the upcoming international release of the Musk documentary, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The documentary’s director, Alex Gibney, recently told the AP that the Musk doc left those who know Elon terrified. /1
More Perfect Union366A final decision has not been made, reportedly, but after Amazon dropped the OpenAI movie there appears to be a trend of companies bowing to tech oligarchs and refusing to air films about them.
dm71I guess it'll just have to accidentally be leaked online.
FARTPOCALYPSE27This doesn't make people want to watch it less lmao Equal parts of, what's in there? Mixed with, fuck that guy.
Secktacular13@neon-rated.bsky.social might need to swoop in & distribute this one too
Elon is a big baby.
Pastashock3Maybe I'm too cynical, but this could also be a viral marketing tactic considering the studio probably knows everyone hates musk thus the movie is unlikely to make a lot of money at the box office. I'm not so sure that the movie will be critical enough of musk that the studio would cancel it.
The Serfs (youtube.com/theserfstv)97The tide is turning if companies are getting this terrified of the public sentiment towards their complicency. Normally massive corporations don't care about releasing content critical of them or their institutions because ultimately it has no effect on their bottom line
Jesse Hawken27This just affects who makes money on the movie, not whether or not it will be seen internationally
Alex Steed23I genuinely do not understand these interventions, which will serve as PR to the project and make these people look stupid for siding with an unrepentant asshole.
Snow Burrow7Comcast CEO Brian Roberts is the billionaire who you don’t think about or hate enough.
Genie Lauren6I wasn't gonna watch this movie but telling me they don't want me to know something is the fastest way to make me curious lol Is this on your radar @bamaslymm.blacksky.app ?
LSAClassOf20006All the more reason to have someone distribute it. Embarrassing Apartheid McEmerald should be a daily goal.
Eric R Fairhurst 📚 🦋 🎷🎨2I’m not surprised… leak the film
Beingsass2I had a feeling this would happen. 🧵
James Cape2This is one way to ensure a blockbuster opening weekend.
Eric Bottorff2just absolutely pathetic and infuriating if true
“If Universal opts against releasing the movie, it would mark an extraordinary reversal at a moment when media companies are already under scrutiny for bowing to political pressure.”
Thanks, I Hate It22Well this is one way to generate buzz and make it a massive success.
i see shit like this and i just think of timothy snyder's "on tyranny," where one of the key points is, "do not obey in advance."
gacyclist.bsky.social6I figured musk would bury it in litigation
Peter Principle4Big Tech is like an anaconda now -- slowly squeezing democracy and dissent to death, then unhinging its jaws to swallow their corpses whole. Except anacondas don't devour their prey nearly so quickly.
Liberty and Justice for All 🗽⚖️4I want to watch it. I hope they release it.
Julie Hansen3I was sad to see that Uni only has non-North America rights. We need to find a wealthy benefactor to fund the release in North America. As unlikely as it seems, I've seen so many people, who I thought wouldn't be interested, saying they want to watch this approx 4 hour movie.
daryl "pulled out of ed sheeran" b 🏳️⚧️31I was told it was silly to entertain this possibility! ah well!
AXEL LYCAN is at ASC 2026!23Alright Ketchup Entertainment, looks like you got a new assignment.
CosmicRami 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️15lmao. This is just gonna make people want to see it more.
Jake i 🇵🇸 ✡️ (alt Space Laser Command)13yeah thats not gonna happen I have never been more certain that a crew member would leak something they worked on than if this right here happens
𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚗𝚎𝚝 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚐 𓆏𓋼𖤣𖥧𓋼𓍊9it's wild to see so many companies and institutions just completely fold in the face of fascism. they don't even attempt to hold their ground on anything, they just immediately get terrified and bow to papa trump and all his little cohorts.
Hunter Felt 🏳️⚧️6They're going to rename it the Elon Musk Effect.
FormerGregSamsa5Of course Elon does have enough money to just buy Universal, but the thing is, we know about the movie, it's been seen, reviewed, and any attempt to suppress it will draw more attention to it. Hey, how's Coyote Vs. ACME doing this at the box office?
Molotovsky3This is crazy because this is going to be released in North America, it's going to be on the internet, everyone will see it.
Molotov🏳️⚧️Cockatiel3Barbara Streisand to the courtesy phone
Peter Principle3Goddamn liberal cancel culture strikes again! bsky.app/profile/pale...
Looks like Musk has frightened off Universal. Another cowardly corporation.
Precious Larue12"Universal would be required to pay filmmakers a kill fee not to release the movie, according to a person familiar with the deal’s structure. The filmmakers would then be free to sell it anew, essentially allowing it to profit twice off the same rights sale." We're gonna see it one way or another.
Dawny B9Yes but Tom Cruise says the fortunes/reputations of these companies have always gone up and down and everything is fine.
CaffeineIsLife9If they're not going to do an actual theater release or whatever for the movie... I think they should just compress a digital copy of it and toss it into the wilds of the interwebs to let anyone who DOES want to see it, enjoy. 😁
Crooked Bridge3Do we really need a documentary to know that he's a piece of shit anyway?
Citizen Snippy △2He's going to Streisand Effect the shit out of it isn't he? 😂
kaarinajaakkola.bsky.social2Wow. The Documentary must be Heavy. Truth hurts. Is he always high?
Louis 〓〓4I am sure the Musk documentary will appear on every torrent download site
Gucky3Insert joke about snowflake / free speech / cowardly man baby here.
Steve Losewood3Frightened? Have they seen his face? Have they heard him talk for Christ’s sake? I’m more frightened of a dachshund.
Jozef Imrich2“Musk“ the most viewed underground biopic … in the world 🌏
doesn't sound like they're capturing and killing the Elon Musk documentary, at least. The creators will not only get a kill fee but paid twice for the rights by a different company. other, more challenging and lower profile docs likely wouldn't be as lucky anyoo, it's comcastic
The Next Day41Getting that clause in your contracts must be the benefit of being the premier documentary filmmaker of your day.
Aaron Turner10Remember when people were complaining that the documentary was of no value because it didn’t shed any light on anything new? I guess someone cared after all.
wndl "Dumocrat" bl2Kudos to Steven Zeitchik and THR for ringing clarity in that quote! We shouldn't just castigate the NYT for cowardice, but also praise where deserved, and here it is.
"Universal Pictures generally appears to be rethinking the release of a project that it once showed high enthusiasm for but is now politically sensitive for parts of the Trump administration." *cough* cowards *cough*
Ensign Expendable4Sounds like somebody has got a case of the Sheerans. "To give up, is complicity."
Marius Loots3This seems like we should dig out the eye patch and peg leg and go trawling the high seas...
arcite.bsky.social2How you know you live in a fascist regime 101
Charlie Brainman4Listen to the Queen of Earth.
No one makes money releasing documentaries. But think of all the money there is in not releasing them.
Sam Adams119Important note (which is in the piece): Unlike Universal, Bleecker Street is holding steady on releasing Musk in the US, and actually moved up the opening to Oct 9. Independent media!
Spoiler Alert2The promise of spending 4 hours with Elon and leaving the most angry you've ever been in your life is a helluva pitch
rhymeswithskinny1I would pay so much money to see this doc
Kylie Eleison44Doing this while the surrounded by headlines about the monster success of a movie they tried to bury is certainly a choice
Ieda Marcondes35Zaslav tentou afundar um filme anticapitalista com um DESENHO como personagem, Amazon não quis o filme sobre o Sam Altman e agora isso. É todo mundo covarde.
Elon Green19easy to see how this plays out after Gibney's doc gets Zaslav'd. Let's just fast forward to it being distributed elsewhere and enjoying a bigger audience than it would've otherwise.
Amateur Expert Opinions4hot take: we, the people, should make a soviet [sic: collectively owned] film archive & distributor
