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'Patriot' Loses War in U.K.
HOLLYWOOD - Memo to Hollywood: If you're going to make a Revolutionary War movie, just remember that the British critics don't forgive and forget. "The Patriot," that big-budget, action-oriented take on the American Revolution, was raked by film reviewers in the United Kingdom for its portrayal of King George III's army as marauding, church-burning warriors.
As a result, the film made just $1.5 million during its first weekend in England and Ireland. To put that into perspective, that's about one-fourth the amount that "The Gladiator" earned.
"'The Patriot' should have been one of the big summer films in the U.K. as well as elsewhere,'' Mary Scott, a journalist with the trade publication Screen International, told Reuters.
"It is typical Hollywood ego to just go ahead and make something they think everyone will see and like regardless. It will certainly be a blot on Mel Gibson."