Dennis Quaid’s presidential biopic “Reagan” outperformed box office expectations over Labor Day weekend, landing in a close race for third place behind mega-blockbusters like “Deadpool & Wolverine.”
The film, directed by Sean McNamara, stars Quaid as the former president and Penelope Ann Miller as his wife, Nancy. Academy Award winner Jon Voight has a supporting role. Mainstream critics had few good things to say about the film, but despite their negative reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie has a 98% audience rating on the review site’s new Popcornmeter compared to a 19% critical rating.
“Reagan” earned $7.4 million Friday through Sunday and could end the four-day weekend with $9.2 million with Monday’s earnings added in, per Newsweek.
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The biopic is based on the 2006 book “The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism” by Paul Kengor. Moviegoers gushed about the film’s performances and content.
“Oscar-winning performances for Quaid, Voight, and Miller in this heartfelt biopic that pays homage to one of America’s most beloved, admired, and effective Presidents. Standing ovation in a packed theater shows how the audience really loved the subject matter and film,” one reviewer wrote.
“Excellent film! Acting superb! Wonderful biopic about a remarkable man,” another reviewer said. “Really liked how the story was told without extreme partisan position. At the end of the showing, the audience burst into applause, something I haven’t experienced in years!”
Quaid joined Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro on his “Sunday Special” series to discuss what led him to take on the role.
“Reagan was my favorite president,” the actor said. “I voted for Jimmy Carter in ’76. It was the first time I could vote, but then I voted for Reagan in ’80.”
Quaid also talked about his complexities and how he tried to portray them onscreen by truly embodying the character.
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“That’s the thing between the impersonation and getting to the person about what makes them tick,” he said. “And there was that thing of Reagan I heard from everyone that knew him, there’s this impenetrable space that he always had that, you know, this is the ‘Great Communicator,’ quite jovial of a person, but there was this place that you couldn’t get past as well, a very private place. And I think that was always there with him from childhood, really.”
“Reagan” is currently showing in theaters nationwide.
