Who Killed The Elon Musk Film?

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Tesla CEO and well-known billionaire Elon Musk has made fairly a journey since 2004, when he joined Martin Eberhardt and Marc Tarpenning because the lead investor of their EV startup Tesla Motors. All of it, and extra, is captured within the new documentary movie, “Musk.” It was set to open on 472 screens throughout the nation on Friday, October 16, however should you blinked, you missed it. The movie’s distributor, Bleecker Road, has already pulled it out of motion. Effectively, timing is every thing…

The Electrical Automobile Documentary Elon Musk Desires You To See

Main as much as final week’s blackout, the “Musk” documentary was using excessive on a cushion of supportive publicity, with acclaimed documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney on the helm and Elon Musk offering an enchanting, excessive profile topic within the nice custom of the US auto trade.

Amongst different works, Gibney was a consulting producer on the hard-hitting 2006 documentary directed by Chris Paine, “Who Killed the Electrical Automobile?” The movie excoriated Basic Motors for killing off its 1990’s-era EV1 electrical sedan after only a few years at low-volume manufacturing. The automobile was leased, not offered, and just a few escaped the junkyard crusher when GM halted manufacturing and recalled the automobiles.

With that in his background, Gibney is likely to be anticipated to create a considerably flattering portrait of the little identified younger investor who made the Tesla Motors dream come true. Actually, Paine eneded “Who Killed the Electrical Automobile” with a shot of a Tesla prototype. Paine additionally went on to direct the 2011 sequel “Revenge of the Electrical Automobile” that includes Tesla together with GM and different EV-curious automakers.

Musk himself gave the sequel a glowing assessment on social media again in 2019. “Nice electrical automobile documentary about early days of Tesla, GM Volt, Nissan Leaf & Gadget. A lot has occurred since then,” Musk inscribed on Twitter, the social media website he acquired in 2022.

Who Killed The Elon Musk Documentary?

Sure, a lot has occurred since then. Gibney is well-known for his deep dives into American entrepreneurs run amok and different matters coping with darkish facet of success and energy within the fingers of ethically bankrupt folks, nearly all of them males (Gibney’s 2019 HBO documentary on the now-imprisoned Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes is one notable exception).

In “Musk,” Gibney takes one other crack on the energy nexus so deftly wielded by Elon Musk, all the best way on as much as the entrepreneur’s publish as chief chainsaw-wielder at US President Donald Trump’s “DOGE” budget-cutting workplace.

“Musk” additionally fills the gaps in Musk’s residence life, together with interviews with the moms of his 14 or so kids, which presumably makes for juicy viewing. That helps clarify why Bleecker Road was aiming for a large launch, a somewhat uncommon plan for a long-format documentary totaling nearly 4 hours. So uncommon, in reality, that Bleecker Road pulled the plug after only one week.

As of this writing, Bleecker Road continues to checklist tons of of screens on its web site. Nevertheless, in accordance with movie trade press, that web page is old-fashioned. The “Musk” trailer  can be accessible on the Bleecker Road web site, however if you wish to see the entire movie — all 3 hours and 52 minutes — make a journey to New York Metropolis and catch it on the Angelika Movie Middle & Cafe on Houston Road.

That’s it. Just one location reportedly stays from the 472 deliberate screens. If of any others, drop a observe within the remark thread.

No, Actually, Who Pulled The Plug?

Coincidentally or not, on October 15 the Hollywood Reporter was amongst these reporting that Bleecker Road out of the blue has a brand new proprietor. “Indie Distributor Bleecker Road Offered to Agency Backed By Billionaire Pierre Omidyar,” reads the headline, referring to eBay founder Pierre Omidyar.

“The capital from the acquisition will permit Bleecker to proceed to function its movie enterprise and construct out its occasion label, Crosswalk,” HR continued, paying attention to Bleecker Road’s already outstanding place within the indie/specialty movie markets.

“At the moment, the corporate is in theaters with Alex Gibney‘s Elon Musk doc, Musk, which might be increasing its theatrical launch this weekend,” HR added considerably optimistically, contemplating the state of affairs only a few days later.

Nevertheless, HR reporter Mia Galuppo did be aware of the writing on the wall. “Sarcastically, Bleecker’s new proprietor Outerlight backs streamer Passionflix, which is run by Elon Musk’s sister Tosca,” Galuppo reported.

Make of that what you’ll. For the file, Passionflix is a distinct segment streamer specializing in romance, because the identify suggests. “Passionflix got down to create a devoted streaming service for love audiences, combining a curated content material library with unique productions,” explains the streaming platform Leyra.

What’s Subsequent For Elon Musk…And Starlink

Evidently the movie bug runs deep within the Musk household. In yet one more coincidence-or-not, final week Semafor scooped phrase that Musk has invested in $1 billion in Skydance, the newly fashioned conglomerate birthed from the acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery by Paramount. Amongst an extended checklist of cable TV and sports activities/leisure ventures, Skydance is now the proud proprietor of the information organizations CNN and CBS Information together with Warner Bros. and Paramount Footage, HBO, and Paramount+.

The opposite billionaire behind Skydance is Oracle founder Larry Ellison, identified for his shut ties to Elon Musk and proper wing politics. Semafor cites the billionaire-level cable government and investor John Malone, who surmises that Ellison leveraged his appreciable stake in Tesla shares to amass the massive bucks for the Skydance enterprise. In the identical article, Malone additionally signifies that Ellison financed the deal that put Twitter into Musk’s fingers.

However wait, there’s extra. Semafor moreover notes that trade observers are already anticipating a “extra expansive partnership between Musk’s lower-earth-orbit satellite tv for pc community, Starlink, and Skydance.”

To be truthful, the online of Elon Musk’s household and good friend circle extends past the Bleecker Road sale and the Skydance merger, and people connections are only one issue with a potential connection to the abrupt cancellation of an uflattering documentary about one of the politically highly effective non-public residents to hang-out the halls of the federal authorities. Timing-wise, the “Musk” movie was set for a tricky problem from one other new, long-format documentary coping with hucksterism and deception, the brand new Elizabeth Holmes documentary by Nathan Fielder. Fielder’s movie has the added attraction of full frontal nudity, incomes a coveted “R” ranking to draw grownup audiences.

The timing for Gibney’s challenge might be extra fortuitous after Election Day, whereupon the Republican Occasion is anticipated to lose its unique management over Congress. If the Democrats do acquire a majority within the Home of Representatives (probably the Senate, too), they are going to take over the oversight proceedings that Republican members of Congress have let languish. Musk has already emerged as a precept goal attributable to his position at DOGE in addition to in his non-public sector ventures, giving the “Musk” film publicity mill an opportunity to gin up once more.

Extra not too long ago, the decision for investigations additionally consists of the broadly excoriated manipulation of SpaceX’s Starlink and Starshield satellite tv for pc companies, which crippled Ukraine’s means to defend itself from Russian assaults final week. That’s contemporary materials not included in Gibney’s documentary. Maybe a sequel is already so as…

PSA: If it’s good to examine your registration standing, polling place, or some other facet of the 2026 elections, join together with your native elections workplace or use a authentic portal like vote.gov or vote411.org, a challenge of the League of Ladies Voters, to seek out your native info. No matter you do, keep away from “VoteSafe.org,” a partisan voter information assortment hub funded by Musk’s America PAC.

Picture: “Musk” the documentary by Alex Gibney (screenshot courtesy of Elevation Footage by way of YouTube).