“Promised Land” Bombs at Box Office

Promised Land“Promised Land,” Tinseltown’s recent take on natural gas drilling, opened in theaters across the nation this past weekend. Despite a cast of heavy hitters, including Matt Damon, the film grossed a meager $4.3 million (10th place).

Patriot-News columnist Donald Gilliland wasn’t impressed either. He encourages audiences to go to a matinee or wait for the film to come out on DVD. Apart from criticizing the “art,” he finds the film lacks any semblance to the reality of drilling in Pennsylvania, writing, “The anti-fracking politics of the film are no less misleading than Josh Fox’s “Gasland” documentary, but more ham-handed.”

New York Post film critic Kyle Smith agrees, calling it “a groaner of an agenda movie” and a film that “gets so cheesy that I suspect it was also secretly funded by Velveeta.”

To figure out if the film does in fact reflect rural Pennsylvania, we talked to a real-life land man (similar to Matt Damon’s character) Mike Knapp who tells us:

The first two acts of the movie do a pretty good job of accurately portraying land men. Butler [Damon’s character] is very caring about the landowners and has full faith that his company is doing the right thing.

But Knapp finds the movie misses the mark when it comes to portraying the drilling process and local landowners:

They [landowners] come across as inarticulate and irresponsible. In one instance, a landowner goes out and blows his check on a Corvette. For folks where the difference between a $100 gas bill and a $200 gas bill can mean not paying other bills, I think it is pretty obnoxious for Mr. Damon to Mr. Krasinski to say you can drill a well on your property because they don’t think it is a good idea.

You can read the full interview with Mike Knapp here

For more on how oil oligarchs and Pennsylvania taxpayers funded the film click here and here. For facts about the benefits and risks associated with natural gas drilling check out Truth, Lies & Answers on Natural Gas Drilling.