‘Napoleon Dynamite’ wouldn’t have been successful if it was released today, say stars

nme.com:

Napoleon Dynamite have said the film wouldn’t have been as popular if it was released today.The film’s lead, Jon Heder, as well as co-stars Efren Ramirez (Pedro), and Jon Gries (Uncle Rico) spoke to Indiewire during an ongoing Napoleon Dynamite Live show that the trio have been touring since 2018.Released in 2004, Napoleon Dynamite was an unlikely independent hit, telling the offbeat story of misfits living in a small town.

Napoleon’s climactic dance, catchphrases, and “Vote For Pedro” t-shirts have all become memes in the following years. Despite this success, the actors believe the film wouldn’t have been the success it was in the modern Hollywood ecosystem.Gries remarked: “If it were released today, Napoleon Dynamite might not have survived.

Theatre owners kept it in theatres. It was six, eight, 10 weeks before the film finally caught fire. I don’t think they’d do that now”.

Ramirez went further, commenting: “It might go straight to streaming”.Heder described how touched he is by people’s affection for the movie over 20 years on, saying: “People tell us they truly love this film… They grew up on it.“With the tour, we get a lot of the same questions, and we’re telling a lot of the same stories — but you have a new audience every time, and that keeps it fresh for us.