Forbes.com: Michael Moore's brashness seen as box office draw

Forbes.com: Michael Moore's brashness seen as box office draw: "By Peter Henderson

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Even in Hollywood, some people find filmmaker Michael Moore obnoxious, opinionated, grating and often less than accurate -- but they say these are qualities that will pay off big when 'Fahrenheit 9/11,' his new film bashing President Bush, is released. "

One distribution company executive predicted the opinionated Moore would deliver a broad audience with the film's mix of entertainment and enlightenment.

"It makes people react. It gets them to show up," the executive said. "You just can't sell that many tickets with Barbra Streisand and her crowd in Malibu."

But another industry executive, who conservatively predicted the new movie could set a new box office record for a documentary, said it would just preach to its choir and a little bit beyond.

The second executive saw "Fahrenheit" selling at least $30 million to $40 million in tickets in North America, compared with $21.6 million for "Columbine," and playing in as many as 1,000 theaters. That would be a third the level of a Hollywood hit, which would be enormously successful for a documentary.