Last Year's Most Controversial Movie Makes History

‘Gosnell’ DVD Hits #1 New Drama On Amazon

Cracks Top 10 Overall Weeks Before Release Date

By Paul Bois
The Daily Wire


"Gosnell: The Trial of America's Biggest Serial Killer" will not be available on DVD until February 5 but that certainly has not prevented the film from earning the number 1 spot in New Drama at Amazon from presales alone.

"One of last year's most controversial movies has made history with record-breaking DVD pre-sales on Amazon - topping the best-seller list and overtaking big Studio backed films," the "Gosnell' marketing team said in a press release given exclusively to The Daily Wire. "With three weeks until the film’s release date, pre-sales have already put it as the number one drama and number 4 best selling DVD on all of Amazon."

As of this writing, "Gosnell" stands at number 3 in the Dramas and number 12 in bestselling DVDs overall. Screenshots were provided of the film's placing prior to this report.

Written by The Daily Wire's own Andrew Klavan and directed by actor Nick Searcy ("Justified"), the movie tells the horrific story of the arrest, trial, and eventual conviction of notorious abortion butcher Kermit Gosnell, who was found guilty on three counts of murder in the first degree against three babies born alive during his procedures. The film primarily focuses on the mainstream media's disinterest in Gosnell's trial throughout its run.

Producer Phelim McAleer said in a statement that the film's presale success on Amazon provides a solid indication that people are hungry to learn about the truth. "There is an enormous appetite for this kind of film that tells the truth," he said. "People are fed up with being fed movies that attack their values and misrepresent the world. There is a real hunger for Gosnell and our record breaking sales prove this."

"Gosnell" surpassed box-office expectations on its first weekend of release back in October 2018 by entering into the Top 10 grossing films with a revenue of $1,235,000 on just 668 screens. As the film entered week 2, however, the film was inexplicably dropped from nearly 200 theaters, including those in major cities where it was performing the strongest.

John Sullivan, the film's marketing director who also served as a producer, told The Daily Wire at the time the drop could not be written off as a mere coincidence or "business as usual."

"I can tell you from my experience in 15 years of releasing movies independently, we’re in uncharted territories," Sullivan told DW in October. "It is an impacted fall, no doubt about it, but the fact that we’ve been dropped from theaters where the movie is the number 6 or number 9 movie is just something you don’t see."

The makers also allege that media outlets refused to carry advertising for the film while Facebook outright blocked ads from being shared.

"NPR and the New York Times refused to carry advertising for the film and Facebook blocked over 50 advertisements on their platform," read the statement released on Monday.  The film grossed $3.6 million during its theatrical run on a production budget of $2.4 million that was spearheaded by a wildly successful crowdfunding campaign.