Movie grossed more than $33,000 at the Wilma Theatre in Missoula during its first four weekends

MISSOULA (LEE) — In late December, conservative pundit Bill O’Reilly predicted that the film “Brokeback Mountain” would never play in Montana. “They’re not going to go see the gay cowboys in Montana,” O’Reilly said during a Dec. 20 broadcast of his Fox News television program. “I’m sorry. They’re not going to do it.”

O’Reilly apparently forgot that stereotypes and off-the-cuff prognostications, no matter how confidently voiced, have an uncanny way of falling apart under the cold light of reality. The fact is, “Brokeback Mountain” isn’t just playing in Montana; it’s playing well, and widely.

In fact, it’s even breaking down some stereotypes that we Montanans tend to harbor about our own state.

Here in Missoula, the film has been a smash hit since it opened at the 1,100-seat Wilma Theatre on Jan. 6. “It’s been super every night since we started showing it,” said Bill Emerson, who manages the 85-year-old theater.

Data collected by Focus Features, which produced the film, show that “Brokeback” grossed more than $33,000 at the Wilma during its first four weekends alone.

“Those numbers are amazing to me,” said Ryan Pliner, distribution coordinator for Focus Features. “Anybody who’s questioning how this movie is playing (outside of big coastal cities) should look at something like this.”

The last time this town demonstrated such abundant enthusiasm for a film was when “March of the Penguins” opened at the Wilma. That film ended up screening at the theater for more than six months. Only “Fahrenheit 9/11” managed to sell more tickets at the theater from the get-go, according to Emerson.

Needless to say, the Bill O’Reillys of the world forgot about places like Missoula.

But “Brokeback” isn’t just doing well in this, traditionally the most liberal part of the state. In Kalispell, the film drew 576 willing ticket-buyers over its first weekend. It was the No. 1 draw during opening weekends in Helena and Whitefish, beating out “Big Momma’s House 2,” “Nanny McPhee” and “Underworld” the three top box-office draws nationwide.

And guess where the film enjoyed its best opening weekend in Montana? Hint: It wasn’t liberal Missoula.

Try Billings.

In its opening three-day weekend, “Brokeback Mountain” grossed $8,272 in Billings. That’s 15 percent better than the film did during its opening weekend at the Wilma, where it grossed $7,187.

Granted, Billings is a bigger city than Missoula. But if you look at per capita spending on the film, Billings residents spent 9 cents per person on the film during its opening weekend (based on 2004 population estimates). That’s just 2 cents shy of what Missoula residents spent per capita on the film hardly a big margin, given the political gulf that many imagine exists between the two towns.

So how to explain the film’s widespread success in this state?

James Lopach, a University of Montana professor of political science, thinks there’s an obvious explanation even if it’s one that pundits like Bill O’Reilly missed.

“Electing to go to a movie is not a political decision,” says Lopach.

Reporter Joe Nickell can be reached at 523-5358 or at jnickell@missoulian.com.