At such a politically charged time, Hollywood is experiencing a boom in politically-themed movies.

“Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House,” in which Liam Neeson played secret Watergate source Deep Throat, recently opened in theaters. Rob Reiner’s “LBJ,” a biopic featuring Woody Harrelson as the 36th president, will be released later this week.

The notorious 1969 incident, when Senator Ted Kennedy drove a car off a bridge which resulted in the death of political staffer Mary Jo Kopechne, is dramatized in a new movie. “Chappaquiddick” recently premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and opens next April.

Half a decade after Steven Spielberg made “Lincoln,” his new movie “The Post” chronicling the Washington Post’s fight to publish the Pentagon Papers in 1971, starring Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks, is being released just before Christmas.

The trailer for “The Post” has just been unveiled. The film had a relatively rapid development period — the project was announced last March and was filmed in the summer. It’s one of the first significant political movies of the Trump era. Streep, Hanks and Spielberg are all high-profile Democrats.

2018 will mark the release of an irreverent biopic of Dick Cheney directed by Adam McKay (“The Big Short”), starring Christian Bale as the former vice president. There’s also “The Front Runner,” currently filming in Atlanta in which Hugh Jackman plays Gary Hart, the 1988 Democrat presidential favorite whose political dreams were extinguished by an alleged extramarital affair with model Donna Rice.

And let’s not forget Martin Scorsese has a biopic of Theodore Roosevelt in development with Leonardo DiCaprio slated to play the 26th U.S. president.

“Cinema has always dramatized politics dating back to the silent movie era in France when a big hit was the dramatization of the Dreyfus Affair,” says Daniel Loria, editorial director at movie-tracking service Box Office Media. “But the number of political films now being made based on recent events seems more than usual.”

The Era of Trump

Whereas during the era of Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, politically-themed movies such as Warren Beatty’s “Bulworth,” Rob Reiner’s “The American President,” Rod Lurie’s “The Contender” and Steven Zallian’s “All the Kings Men” served up tales of fictional intrigue in the corridors of power, the slate of recent and upcoming biopics testifies real life has now gate-crashed the political movie genre.

Rod Lurie, who as well as directing “The Contender” also made 2008’s “Nothing But The Truth,” loosely based on the Valerie Plame-Scooter Libby case, is currently adapting for the screen “The Last of the President’s Men,” a Watergate history based on a 2015 book comprised of interviews with Nixon aide Alexander Butterfield written by Bob Woodward, who co-authored “All the President’s Men,” which went on to become the most celebrated political movie of all time upon its 1976 release.

Lurie said the political movie is ripping from the front page more than ever partially as a way of interpreting the turbulent era we’re living in. “The political films out there have everything to do with what is happening right now,” Lurie said. “There seems to be an interest in connecting the history of the past to the present and asking whether things have really changed. Films like “The Contender” and “Bulworth” seem quaint compared with Trump!”

While the riveting news agenda serves as the pathway for more political movies, the overlapping of news and entertainment presents a growing challenge for how films can cut through the noise. “You can’t compete with the insanity going on in government right now,” said Oscar-winning director and screenwriter Paul Haggis. “If you try to compete with the news, Trump is going to beat you every week!”

But Australian actor Jason Clarke, who plays Senator Edward Kennedy in “Chappaquiddick” and previously acted in Kathryn Bigelow’s Iraq movie “Zero Dark Thirty” and Showtime political drama “Brotherhood,” insists motion pictures about politics are more enduring than the latest headline or social media sensation.

“You obviously hope the film will be politically relevant — the whole point of “Chappaquiddick” lies in its similarities to the modern arena,” he said. “But art is lasting. A movie touches you on an emotional and human level whereas a tweet you fire off to make money for your brand can’t.”

Some actors seem drawn to political movies as a way of embracing issues they care about without getting drawn into political controversies that might arise if they openly express liberal viewpoints that risk inflaming conservative cinemagoers.

“I’m not interested in being political,” said Richard Jenkins, who has appeared in “LBJ” and the 2015 Sandra Bullock political-consulting drama “Our Brand is Crisis” as well as Guillermo del Toro’s upcoming politically-tinged fantasy movie, “The Shape of Water.” “I have political views but I don’t like to talk about them. I love people who do but maybe I’m not smart enough to wax eloquent about what I believe. The way I express it is through performing,” Jenkins said.

The polarized political environment has already derailed some movie projects. 18 months ago, Will Ferrell dropped out of playing Ronald Reagan in a new comedy after it emerged that “Reagan” would focus on his Alzheimer’s-induced dementia in the second term of his presidency, resulting in a right-wing backlash.

Other movies have had to compromise. An earlier script draft of “Chappaquiddick”, written by Taylor Allen and Andrew Logan, seen by MarketWatch, contained a love scene between Ted Kennedy (Clarke) and Mary Jo Kopechne (played by Kate Mara).

“They kiss gently at first,” the scene direction stated. “Then hungrily.” The scene subsequently cut to “Ted Kennedy stand[ing] unsteadily, weaving from drink. He slips himself into his back brace. Mary Jo pulls on her pants, without bothering with her panties.” Yet that love scene between the pair, whose romantic history has always remained ambiguous, was missing in the final cut of the movie that screened at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Will they make money?

Political films have historically endured a hard time getting high audience turnout. While “Lincoln” grossed $182 million domestically and “All the President’s Men” made $70 million, most others struggle at the box office. “Our Brand is Crisis” made just $7 million, “W” $25 million and “Frost/Nixon” $18 million.

“Are they guaranteed home runs? Not exactly,” said Loria of Box Office Media. “But the expectation for them to be huge hits isn’t there — you don’t have Batman helping LBJ through its crises. They’re made for more adult audiences.”

Some political movies go to increasing lengths to stand out as a result. MarketWatch understands Adam McKay’s Dick Cheney movie will feature an extravagant song and dance number choreographed by “Hamilton” choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler.

For a political movie, timing is often key. Loria notes that Joe Wright’s upcoming Winston Churchill WWII biopic “Darkest Hour” might get a box office boost from supplying the flip side of the same historical period as Christopher Nolan’s summer hit “Dunkirk.”

Paul Haggis’s “In the Valley of Elah,” starring Charlize Theron and Tommy Lee Jones, was one of a number of Iraq War movies that happened to be released in 2007. A decade ago they all flopped. “The Iraq War was still popular when I made the film,” he said. “Even liberals against the war just didn’t want to hear about it. Then two years later “The Hurt Locker” won at the Oscars. My agent’s advice, who I probably should have listened to, was to wait a year or two.”

For now, the shadow of President Trump looms large on the political movie. “We’ve moved from films about nobility in politics like “The American President” to examining films that deal with abuse of power,” says Lurie. “We’re connecting everything to Trump right now.”

Director-writer Paul Schrader, whose political movies include “The Walker” and “Patty Hearst,” emphasizes the dramatic shift the genre has undergone in the last decade. “There’s one kind of political film not being made right now,” he noted. “That’s the film about the decent, well-meaning president. You can’t get that one financed. Morgan Freeman for president no longer works.”