Michael Bay’s Benghazi movie has a massive sales spike as Republicans attack Hillary Clinton
Christian Black/Paramount
“13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi.”
Though Michael Bay’s movie about the deadly 2012 attack on the US Embassy in Libya, “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi,” only took in a disappointing $69.4 million worldwide in theaters (the movie had a $50 million budget), it’s getting a second life on home video. And it might have Donald Trump to thank.
Since it became available digitally in May and via Blu-ray/DVD on June 7, the film has taken in more than $40 million in sales, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
That’s a huge number for a movie of this size that seemed to have a small audience when it was in theaters. (According to THR, the sales breakdown is: digital purchases around $7.1 million, digital and physical rentals $20.2 million, and $13.5 million for Blu-ray and DVD sales.)
The election season may be at play here.
The vocal criticism of then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for what’s seen as a slow response to the attack has no died down. In fact, we heard it throughout the primaries, and Trump has regularly touched on it at his rallies, getting an intense response from his supporters.
And at the Republican National Convention, two of the movie’s subjects, Mark Geist and John Tiegen, criticized Clinton for not doing her job.
However, it should be said that the film’s studio, Paramount, told THR that the film is selling well across the country, not just in states that are leaning toward Trump.
The movie takes a very apolitical stance, never mentioning Clinton by name.
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