Filming began on September 9, 2020, and included locations such as Guthrie, Oklahoma. Reagan was theatrically released in the United States on August 30, 2024. It received negative reviews from critics and grossed $30.1 million.
Plot
In present-day Moscow, Russian politician Andrei Novikov arrives at the home of former KGB agent Viktor Petrovich, and questions why the Soviet Union fell. Petrovich, who was assigned to surveil U.S. politician Ronald Reagan, discusses the Soviet Union's past ambitions to infiltrate Washington, D.C. and Hollywood. Petrovich details Reagan's childhood in 1920s Illinois, where his father Jack was an alcoholic but his mother Nelle instilled Reagan with Christian values.
Reagan becomes a born again Christian, and works as a lifeguard and radio announcer. He later moves to Hollywood, where he becomes an actor for Warner Bros. After World War II, Reagan's status as a leading man is in decline, though he is elected president of the Screen Actors Guild in 1947. During the Hollywood blacklist era, Reagan becomes a FBI informant and feuds with Herbert Sorrell, a union organizer. Reagan's marriage to actress Jane Wyman ends in divorce due to his political involvement and the premature death of their daughter Christine.
In 1970, the Reagans hold prayers with Pat Boone and pastor George K. Otis, who prophesies Reagan will become president if he "walks uprightly" before God. Six years later, Reagan challenges incumbent President Gerald Ford for the Republican nomination at the Republican National Convention but loses in the delegate count. Ford loses the election to Democrat Jimmy Carter, and Reagan runs again for president in 1980. He beats Carter and forms a friendship with Tip O'Neill, the Democratic Speaker of the House.
By the time of Reagan's second term, Leonid Brezhnev's successors had died in office, making diplomacy difficult. Reagan meets with UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who persuades him to meet with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. At the Geneva Summit in 1985, the two leaders negotiate nuclear disarmament, but Reagan is reluctant to sign an agreement due to his support for the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), which had been dubbed "Star Wars". A year later, the Iran-Contra scandal breaks, and Reagan is threatened with impeachment. Reagan denies there were arms traded for hostages, but backtracks in an Oval Office speech.
Despite Shultz's opposition, Reagan delivers a speech near the Brandenburg Gate, and demands for Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall. In 1989, Reagan leaves office and the Berlin Wallfalls shortly thereafter; the Soviet Union dissolves two years later. In retirement, Reagan experiences memory lapses and discloses he has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Reagan dies in 2004, and international leaders attend his funeral to pay their respects.
In 2010, it was announced producer Mark Joseph would be producing a feature film biopic of Ronald Reagan with Joseph having been inspired to take on such a project after reacting to the miniseries The Reagans with distaste.[30] Screenwriter Jonas McCord had initially been uninterested in the project, but changed his mind after deciding that Reagan's childhood and formative years were dramatically rich.[30] Klausner and McCord wrote the script based on a book by Paul Kengor: The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism.[31] Kengor described the script's development as faithful to both his books and history.[32]
In 2012, Jon Voight was in discussions to portray Viktor Petrovich, whom Kengor said "is actually a character based on a number of KGB agents and Soviet analysts who we now know were tasked with keeping tabs on Ronald Reagan for many years".[33]
Joseph had trouble securing financing for the film with several deals made before production actually started, only for the money to never actually come through. This led to Joseph turning to outside independent financing which made up the film's $25 million budget.[34]
Principal photography began on September 9, 2020. Filming locations included Guthrie, Oklahoma. It was announced on October 22, 2020, that filming had shut down after several crew members tested positive for COVID-19 in the midst of the ongoing pandemic.[35][36] Filming resumed on November 5, 2020.[9]
Reagan was originally due to be released in 2021 but was then delayed to an unspecified date.[36][38][39] In March 2024, it was announced ShowBiz Direct would theatrically distribute the film on August 30, 2024.[40]Facebook temporarily restricted the film from advertising on its platform, alleging that the ads were efforts to influence the 2024 United States elections.[41][42]
Reception
Box office
As of October 20, 2024, Reagan has grossed $30.1 million worldwide.[2][3]
In the United States and Canada, Reagan was released alongside AfrAId, Slingshot, 1992, and City of Dreams, and was projected to gross $5–7 million from 2,754 theaters in its four-day opening weekend.[43] It grossed $2.6 million on its first day, including $525,000 from Thursday night previews.[44][45] The film earned $7.7 million during its opening three day weekend, and $10.3 million over the four day Labor Day Weekend.[46][47] Audiences skewed older, white, and Southern; 78% of moviegoers were white, 63% were at least 55 years old, and the theater with the highest grosses for the film on opening weekend was located in Edmond, Oklahoma.[44]
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 18% of 68 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4/10. The website's consensus reads: "While Reagan the movie undoubtedly admires Reagan the man, its cloying and glossy rendering of history flattens the 40th U.S. President into caricature."[48] In contrast, the audience score of 98% gives the film the widest critic to audience score gap of any film on Rotten Tomatoes.[49] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while those surveyed by PostTrak gave it an average 4.5 out of five stars, with 77% saying they would definitely recommend it.[44]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 22 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.[50]
Bilge Ebiri of Vulture said the film was "pure hagiography, but it's not even one of those convincing hagiographies that pummel you into submission with compelling scenes that reinforce their subject's greatness."[51] Writing in The Wall Street Journal, Kyle Smith said, "Mannered acting, dismal cinematography, clunky attempts to enhance excitement via gimmicks such as slow motion, and a musical score like a fountain of goo all serve as flashbacks to Reagan-era network schlock."[52] Nick Schager of The Daily Beast wrote, "Regardless of how you feel about Ronald Reagan the president, most will be united in finding this biopic a preachy, plodding, graceless groaner."[53]
The Washington Post'sTy Burr gave the film 1.5/4 stars, writing, "The faithful for whom Reagan was made aren't likely to see that it's a hagiography as rosy and shallow as anything in a Kremlin May Day parade. As pop-culture propaganda — popaganda, if you will — the movie's strictly for true believers. As history, it's worthless."[54] Glenn Kenny of The New York Times deemed the film an "unabashed love letter to the former president", concluding, "It all makes for a plodding film, more curious than compelling."[55]
Bill Newcott of The Saturday Evening Post gave the film 3/5 stars, calling it "A shamelessly adoring biopic that is single-handedly rescued from worshipful ignominy by its star, Dennis Quaid, who stubbornly chips through the script's plaster façade to offer glimpses of a man who spent his entire career concealing his complexities."[56]
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