Woody Allen Scandal Didn't Affect the Box Office

Anyone out there who thought Woody Allen's sex abuse scandal might put a damper on the director/actor/writer's box office draw? Yeah, you'd be wrong. In fact, Allen's latest, where he goes actor-only for John Turturro's indie comedy Fading Gigolo , managed to turn out numbers that put it on track to become the second-highest box office-grossing indie of 2014, coming up behind Wes Anderson's Grand Budapest Hotel . That's right — he's actually done better for himself, financially-speaking, in the scandal's wake.

Not that the revelation is all that surprising — it's no secret that when celebrities behave (allegedly) badly, their loyal fans will oft be there to support them. Sometimes even time and time again (as the mere existence of Chris Brown suggests), regardless of their misdeeds. We're certainly not saying that Turturro's film — which has gained a lot of positive reviews since it was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, long before the reignited Dylan Farrow controversy — should suffer simply because Allen is one of its stars. But it is interesting to see what the numbers do mean. What it does do is support Lena Dunham's argument that art shouldn't be where people who do bad things are convicted. Fading Gigolo's box office numbers, which made bank thanks to Allen's turn as a pimp for the aging lothario played by writer/director Turturro, pulled in $200,000 this weekend — a seriously impressive feat, considering it played at only 5 theaters nationwide.

Allen's star will likely never fade into obscurity because of the allegations against him. And we're not arguing that it should or should not, but it's interesting to see that, for all the words printed on the matter, the money speaks louder than all of that, in the end.