Posted in: Movies | Tagged: bill o'reilly, film, fox news, killing patton

Fox's Nat Geo Network Kills Bill O'Reilly's 'Killing Patton' Movie

Published Thu, 01 Jun 2017 17:37:54 -0500

Last updated Tue, 27 Jun 2017 21:42:56 -0500

It appears that for all the bad in the world, there is some good. The fact that Fox had the guts to fire Bill O'Reilly was already surprising but now it looks like he just got brought down another peg. The film adaptation of O'Reilly's book, Killing Patton, has officially been scrapped by "cooperate cousin National Geographic Channel" according to The Hollywood Reporter. The adaptation was first announced in 2015 and slated for a 2019 release date. At the time O'Reilly was very confident in the material.

When Patton was first announced nearly two years ago, O'Reilly touted the franchise's "winning streak." Of the adaptation, he added: "I'm very confident our continued partnership [with Scott Free Productions and Nat Geo] will yield a gripping film about General Patton's tragic death."

That tune from National Geographic has changed after O'Reilly was fired by Fox earlier this year. The company released a statement that made it sound like this was just a sort of thing that happened.

"It was in development for a couple of years, and it was a difficult project to crack creatively," the network said in a statement. "Like most projects in development, it didn't go the distance, so we passed on it."

Nat Geo development executives brought in multiple writers to attempt to bang out a script, but ultimately decided to scrap it. Killing Patton is the first of O'Reilly's Killing books that did not make it out of development at Nat Geo.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the previous adaptation of O'Reilly's books have drawn big ratings yet they decided not to move ahead with the project anyway. O'Reilly has another book due out in September and his publisher Macmillan's Henry Holt has decided to stand by him after he was let go from Fox News.

"Our plans have not changed," Holt publicity director Patricia Eisemann said at the time.

A million in sales will do a lot to sway people's moral compass it appears.

O'Reilly was forced out from Fox News after it was revealed that he and Fox reached settlements totaling $13 million with five women over sexual harassment allegations leveled against him. Subsequently, more than 50 advertisers began to pull out and Fox News and O'Reilly parted ways, with Fox stating, ""After a thorough and careful review of the allegations, the company and Bill O'Reilly have agreed that Bill O'Reilly will not be returning to the Fox News Channel." O'Reilly has denied all of the allegations against him.

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