Idiocracy

Idiocracy is a 2006 American science fiction comedy film directed and produced by Mike Judge, who co-wrote with Etan Cohen. The plot follows United States Army librarian Joe Bauers and prostitute Rita, who undergo a government hibernation experiment and awake five hundred years later to find a devolved dystopian anti-intellectual society. The cast includes Luke Wilson, Maya Rudolph, Dax Shepard, Terry Crews, David Herman, Justin Long, Andrew Wilson, and Brad Jordan. The concept of Idiocracy dates back to a concept Judge envisioned in 1996. In 2001, Judge finished a script with the working title 3001, and rewrote the film a year later. Filming took place throughout 2004 at Austin Studios and other cities in Texas. Idiocracy serves as a social satire that touches on issues including anti-intellectualism, commercialism, consumerism, dysgenics, voluntary childlessness, and overpopulation. 20th Century Fox was hesitant to promote the film, refused to grant it a wide release, and did not screen it for critics. The decision not to market Idiocracy was seen as unexpected, following the success of Office Space (1999). According to Crews, the film's satirical depiction of corporations made the film financially unviable, while Judge attributed Fox's decision to negative test screenings; Judge stated that Fox believed that the film would develop a cult following through its DVD release, similar to Office Space. Idiocracy was released in the United States on September 1, 2006. Due to its lack of a major theatrical release, it resulted in a $495,000 box-office gross. The film received positive reviews from critics, and has since become a cult film.