pilot whose plane crashed into the Pentagon on September 11, Debra Burlingame. Celsius 41.11 was also shown at the first Liberty Film Festival. Both Lions Gate Entertainment (the distributors of Fahrenheit 9/11) and Fox Searchlight (which specialises in the distribution of independent films) declined the opportunity to distribute the film to cinemas. David Bossie, the film's executive producer, believed that the distributors rejected the film on ideological grounds, while Lionel Chetwynd and Ted Steinberg felt that the close proximity of the election which gave the film an abnormally short shelf-life put the distributors off. Celsius 41.11 was eventually self-distributed by Citizens United. It was screened in 116 cinemas on its opening weekend and had a three-week theatrical run. Although the film was popular in conservative areas, on average box office takings were below those for comparible left-leaning political documentaries such as Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry and Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism. Lionel Chetwynd suggested that the low audiences were due to the film's late release date with respect to the 2004 United States Presidential campaign adding that opening on the same weekend as the World Series may have compounded the problem. Citizens United subsequently printed 200,000 DVDs of the film, many of which were given to its supporters. Response In common with Fahrenheit 9/11, Celsius 41.11 proved to be a contentious film. It received 42 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 11 reviews and an 11% rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 18 reviews. The BBC described the newspaper critics response as "irk[ed]" commenting that "many newspapers, while not disagreeing with the facts of the documentary, have not been impressed with it as a piece of entertainment." Reviewers generally agreed that the film would appeal most to those who were already convinced supporters of George W. Bush and was unlikely to change the views of those who opposed him. Kerry Lengel of The Arizona Republic said, "Celsius 41.11 isn't going to change many minds." Michael Graham of the National Review said, "I just don’t think there are a lot of people left willing to be persuaded. Some conservatives will watch and say “See, I told you so!” Liberals will watch and dismiss the arguments as partisan. Undecideds…well, they won’t watch it." Desson Thompson of The Washington Post and Robert Koehler of Variety said that the film preached to the choir. Some reviewers said