Rick Santorum's "The Christmas Candle" movie flops

The conservative former lawmakers' foray into film production doesn't exactly set the world on fire

Published November 25, 2013 7:25PM (EST)

Now that it's been out for two weeks, it's about time to acknowledge "The Christmas Candle" for what it is — a massive flop.

Distributed by EchoLight, Rick Santorum's family-friendly film distribution firm, "The Christmas Candle," an old-fashioned holiday tale about a fictional English town in the late 19th century, has grossed less than $2 million since its release, bringing in a pathetic $2,500 per screen.

Unsurprisingly, the film's reviews are no better than its finances. Joe Neumaeir of the New York Daily News wrote that the film is "as if a little plastic holiday village came to life. Except that might be interesting." Peter Sobczynski of rogerebert.com also panned the movie, writing, "The end result is the kind of vaguely distasteful Yuletide concoction that viewers normally find playing on cable channels that they don't even realize that they have."

Even the right-wing New York Post gave the film only two stars out of four, saying the film's "resolute quaintness" is unlikely to appeal to any but "the kind of viewers who regard electricity as disturbingly newfangled."

Watch the trailer for "The Christmas Candle" below:


By Elias Isquith

Elias Isquith is a former Salon staff writer.

MORE FROM Elias Isquith


Related Topics ------------------------------------------

Echolight Film Movie Religious Right Rick Santorum The Christmas Candle The Guardian Video