The Documentary 2000 Mules Pulls Up Lame at Box Office and with Critics
By Michael Lovito, June 16, 2022
Dinesh D’Souza hoped that his latest documentary, 2000 Mules, would continue his record of success at the box office. Released on May 20, the film offers what D’Souza claims is definitive proof that Joe Biden was elected not by the American people, but by a vast network of paid political operatives who cast thousands of fraudulent ballots. Opening on over 400 screens and recouping its reported budget of $1.4 million, 2000 Mules has performed admirably for a small budget documentary with a limited release. But a steep second weekend drop-off and a chilly reception from would-be fans has put a damper on whatever excitement the film hoped to generate, and may force D’Souza to reevaluate both the timing and release strategy of his future endeavors.
The Conservative Michael Moore?
By any objective measure, Dinesh D’Souza is one of the most successful documentarians ever. His 2012 debut, 2016: Obama’s America, grossed over $33 million, making it the sixth best performing documentary in U.S. box office history. His subsequent films, 2014’s America: Imagine the World Without Her and 2016’s Hillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party, were not quite as successful, but both made over $13 million domestically, placing them among the 30 highest-earning documentaries of all time. By comparison, 2000 Mules’ haul of just over $1.4 million has the scent of a flop. The fact that it was released in theaters at all is a testament to the vaunted place D’Souza holds in the world of conservative film.
“A lot of these election fraud documentaries and fringe content are produced and distributed in a way to get as many eyeballs as possible through an online algorithm,” Daniel Loria, the senior vice president of content strategy and editorial director at Box Office Media said. “Dinesh D’Souza is the exception to that. He makes his documentaries for a movie theater audience, and they’re very cinematic in respect to their production.”
Considering that a majority of Republicans believe that the 2020 election results were at least partly “illegitimate,” D’Souza had reason to believe that he had another hit on his hands. 2000 Mules documents the efforts of vote-monitoring organization True the Vote, which, after analyzing cell phone geolocation data and security camera footage, claimed to have identified 2,000 “mules” who were paid by a network of non-profit organizations to collect and deposit fraudulent ballots at drop boxes in the crucial swing states of Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. While law enforcement agencies and election experts have cast doubt on True the Vote’s claims, a survey conducted by conservative pollster Rasmussen claims that 77 percent of voters who watched 2000 Mules say that their belief that the 2020 election was stolen has been “strengthened” by the film. 2000 Mules also received an endorsement from Donald Trump himself, who hosted a screening of the film at his Mar-a-Lago resort and called it “the greatest and most impactful documentary of our time.” (Although his former Attorney General Bill Barr, completely scoffed at the premise of the documentary in his recent Jan. 6 hearings testimony.)
A Changing Landscape
Like most filmmakers not backed by a big studio, D’Souza’s theatrical ambitions have been tempered by the rise of streaming services and the shrinking number of movie theaters. While 2016: Obama’s America appeared on over 2,000 screens during its 24-week theatrical run, 2000 Mules had to settle for 415 screens in its opening weekend, and its theatrical campaign was slated to conclude last weekend. The film is available for purchase on DVD via Amazon or distributor Salem Media’s website, and available for digital download or streaming purchase via the subscription platforms Rumble and Locals. According to a press release from Salem Media, digital sales have helped 2000 Mules gross over $10 million, although, like the film’s claims about voter fraud, these numbers are difficult, if not impossible, to prove.
“There is no third party, independently verified way to trust any report on streaming numbers from anyone,” Loria said. “It can be a Michael Moore documentary, it can be a Netflix documentary about cats, I don’t care. I don’t believe a word of it. There’s no way that I, as a reporter, can trust that information.”
Salem Media and D’Souza media did not respond to TheRighting’s request for comment regarding 2000 Mules’streaming and revenue statistics.
Thumbs Down From the Right
Perhaps even more troubling for D’Souza is that the film has been either ignored or criticized by a number of conservatives. In addition to being the subject of fact checks from mainstream newspapers like The Washington Post and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 2000 Mules has inspired ambivalent to downright hostile reviews from right-leaning outlets like The Daily Wire, Dispatch, The Bulwark, and The Washington Free Beacon. And D’Souza has complained publicly that Fox News and Newsmax refuse to mention the film on the air.
There’s never one definitive explanation for why a film underperforms at the box office or fails to connect with its target audience (2000 Mules certainly wasn’t helped by opening up against Top Gun: Maverick, which continues to break box office records). But 2000 Mules stands out from D’Souza’s other, more successful films in one crucial respect: it’s about an election that’s already happened, and as such fails to speak to voters who are interested in the 2022 midterms or 2024 presidential election.
“This is a backward-looking documentary on something that’s been widely debunked by every serious media organization in the world,” Loria said. “An anti-Obama or an anti-Hillary documentary is probably an easier sell than saying, ‘Hey, that election from two years ago was probably faked, come here and sit for two hours to learn about it.’”
Michael Lovito is a Brooklyn-based reporter and critic whose work has appeared in Salon, Brooklyn Magazine, Pavement Pieces, and The District. He also serves as editor-in-chief of the politics and pop culture website The Postrider. @MLovito
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2000 Mules stands out from D’Souza’s other, more successful films released theatrically in one crucial respect: it’s about an election that’s already happened, and as such fails to speak to voters who are interested in the 2022 midterms or 2024 presidential election.
