Best known for a billboard campaign that tried, but failed, to spark audiences to its tagline (and accompanying photos of a distressed Elisha Cuthbert)—"Abduction. Confinement. Torture. Termination"—the so-called torture-porn movie opened, barely, in a relatively sparse 1,050 theaters, grossed an absolutely sparse $1.5 million, finished out of the top 10, and presumably began the wait for its unrated DVD release.
Lionsgate celebrated Captivity in a much-publicized Los Angeles premiere party, but, per newspaper critics, kept the movie itself under wraps. In the Boston Globe, reviewer Ty Burr wrote of having to commute to Danvers, Massachusetts, about 20 miles north of Boston, to catch a screening. His eventual verdict: "Wholly pointless," which was one of the more charitable blurbs for a film that scored only three positive reviews out of the 47 tracked and categorized by Sunday afternoon on Rotten Tomatoes.
I claim full intent and credit. Of course, it probably didn't hurt that Joss Whedon jumped on the bandwagon, but you know it was really me. Between this and the failure of Hostel II, I could actually start being proud to be an American moviegoer again.
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