Via the LPUK blog.
I'll go see it, of course, if only to see how good an adaptation it is. But at the risk of looking like an idiot if I'm wrong I'll make a couple of predictions. First, it'll get panned by film reviewers in left leaning media (and since the story is one they'll be familiar with I wouldn't be surprised if some reviews are already half-written). That's practically a given, and since there are more than a few big state types on the right it might get panned from over there too. It might also get panned by people who just thought it was lousy book from a literary point of view - I found it hard going in places and despite being sympathetic to a lot of the ideas I found myself not really caring much about her characters. If that comes over into the film it'll attract flak even from neutral viewers.
Secondly, as with The Golden Compass from a few years back, this is a film that is going to piss a lot of people off. Films that people think criticise their religions almost inevitably do, though The Golden Compass managed to piss off everybody. The ideas in Atlas Shrugged are unlikely to go down too well with those adherents of the modern western religion of statism, and since they exist not just on the left but on the right too I think the film might manage to annoy them both unless it's been very heavily altered from Ayn Rand's original. On the other hand even moderate alteration will annoy many libertarians, and probably infuriate people of a Randian bent, while still failing to make friends of the statists because of their dislike of source material. In other words it might pull off the same trick The Golden Compass did, the sequels for which appear to be in development hell. Even if they stay true to the source - and since a release date of April 15th, the day federal tax returns are normally due in the US, looks like a big 'fuck you' aimed directly at Washington, DC I'd say there's a good chance they will - is there a large enough sympathetic audience for it even if every Tea Partier queues up to see it?
Since the title of this film is Atlas Shrugged - Part One and it has the potential to be commercially unsuccessful due to its themes' poor fit with the world view of many people (search the web - the haters have already started) I can't help but feel pessimistic about the chances of part two making it to a screen near me and doubt that part three will be made.* Doubly so as it's apparently self financed and distributed. Sure, the makers could carry on with a production in the face of losses just to make a point and to try to sell the message. I wonder what Rand would have made of that.
* On the other hand there will almost certainly be a porno called Atlas Shagged if there isn't already. and since the world's appetite for porn seems practically infinite maybe it's the best way to get the ideas out there.