More than 2,500 people bought reserved tickets to attend the Nov 18th Tampa premiere of The Mysterious Islands, a new film that debunks the conclusions Charles Darwin reached during his storied trip to the Galapagos Islands during the voyage of the HMS Beagle.

Shot and directed by the award-winning Jon and Andy Erwin of Erwin Brothers Motion Pictures, the 100-minute documentary is being featured in special screenings around the country in anticipation of the November 24 anniversary date of the publication of Darwin’s influential book, On the Origin of Species. More than 800 attended the premiere in Durham, North Carolina on Nov 17th, and interest in the film continues to build.

“The Galapagos Islands are a showcase of God’s creation, not a laboratory for evolution, as Darwin claimed,” noted Doug Phillips, executive producer of The Mysterious Islands. “Our film captures the wonder of the intriguing flora and fauna of the Galapagos, even as it shows where Darwin went wrong in his observations. And we are excited to be able to show this contrast to audiences around the country through our new film.”

The Mysterious Islands takes viewers deep beneath the ocean waves among hundreds of white-tip sharks, over lava fields covered with salt-spitting marine iguanas, and to the unusual habitat of blue-footed boobies and flightless cormorants. Featuring the only team of Creationists and Christian scientists to shoot a documentary on the Galapagos during 2009 — Darwin’s anniversary year — The Mysterious Islands brings a fresh perspective on Charles Darwin and his Theory and presents sweeping cinematography of one of the most remote, desolate, and fascinating island chains in the world.

“The subtitle of Darwin’s landmark book is often overlooked: “the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life,'” Phillips observed. “Darwin’s ideas should not be celebrated on the anniversary of his book, for they have contributed to the dehumanization and murder of millions through the rise of Nazism, the proliferation of racism, Marxism, widespread abortion, and the horrors of eugenics.”