John Aglialoro produced Atlas Shrugged: Part 1.

These days, he’s blaming movie critics for the failure of his film to make big money and says the critics' scathing criticism has given him second thoughts about doing a part two and part three.

Critics — including this one — haven’t really liked the film. However, to blame us for the failure of his movie is a bit of a stretch.

First of all, the film opened on only 125 screens. There are thousands of screens in the U.S.

Week 2 saw it expand to 425. One of them was the Carmike 12 in Kennewick. The film continues running there and remain at least another week.

Aglialoro’s logic is flawed because critics skewer huge hits all the time. Two recent and prime examples are Twilight and Transformers. They cleaned up at the box office. Negative criticism really doesn’t seem matter to movie-goers.

The last time I commented on Atlas Shrugged was when the producers told its Tri-City supporters that threats from theater chain kept the film from a one-time showing at the Richland Library. That is ridiculous. One showing at the Richland Library would not hold enough people to be any kind of a threat to theaters.

It looked very much like a desperate attempt to get people to beg the chains to book the film. Criticism of critics looks much the same.

Aglialoro’s real problem is the lack of funding to give his film a wider release, and it's the real reason he won’t make a sequel. He’s out of money, and the investment hasn’t paid off. To blame critics is lame.

Before I get slammed for being a liberal who wants to silence the followers of Ayn Rand’s philosophy, I would love to see parts two and three made. It is a topic worthy of discussion in whatever venue works best. A movie is as good as any.