So Grindhouse bombed at the box office, making only half of the targeted $25 million opening Easter weekend. The Weinstein Co head Harvey Weinstein told Nikki Finke that he is “very disappointed” with the results, and he is considering splitting the double feature into two separate films.
“First of all, I’m incredibly disappointed. We tried to do something new and obviously we didn’t do it that well. It’s just a question of how is it going to hang in there. But we could split the movies in a couple of weeks. Make Tarantino’s a full-length film, and Rodriguez’s too. We’ll be adding those ‘two missing reels’ that’s talked about in the movie.”
When analyzing the situation, the film’s over 3 hour running time is taking most of the blame for the lackluster opening weekend.
“Our research showed the length kept people away. It was the single biggest deterrent. It was 3 hours and 12 minutes long. grondhouse1.jpgWe originally intended to get it all in in 2 hours, 30 minutes. That would have been a better time. But the movies ran longer, the [fake] trailers ran longer, everything ran longer,” said Weinstein.
But will splitting the movies in two help?
It can’t hurt. I think Tarantino’s Death Proof will play much better as a single film, and Rodriguez’ Planet Terror has enough action to sell itself. The two films were originally scheduled to be released individually in international markets, and Harvey is convinced that “splitting it up, we’re going to do a hell of a lot better internationally than we did here.”
Although I’m not sure adding the “missing reels” will really help the box office or the films watchability. Most people I’ve talked to loved the missing reel gimmick, and it’s one of the biggest laughs in each movie. Harvey also sheds some light on how the film did poorly in Middle America, but played well on the coasts and urban areas. You can read all of the studio head’s comments at DeadlineHollywoodDaily.com.
April 9th, 2007 at 6:32 pm
I don’t see why they’ve declared the film a failure. It’s only been one week. The 3 hours went by fast because I was enjoying every minute of it. Splitting the films up is not the answer. Rather, cutting them down would have been a much better idea.
There was a good amount that could be trimmed down. I think the elements like
the missing reel was great and people enjoyed it. Adding it in wouldn’t make any
difference. The double feature idea is genius. The problem lies in the films length.
Many are intimidated by the length of the film. 2- 2 and a half hours would have been much better instead of 3 hours. Also, I think the film is a bit ahead of it’s time. I’ve talked to a few people who thought it was “stupid” or “mindless”. Little did they know just how mindless they were themselves.
April 9th, 2007 at 10:41 pm
I still think that the biggest problem that Grindhouse faced was when it was released. Easter weekend…though some people (myself included) may want to spend it seeing a gory double feature, the majority of people (including people with family over for the holiday, including grandparents) are going to opt for a more family friendly film. Also…what the hell happened to he midnight showings Thursday night…I was looking so foward to a nice midnight movie grindhouse trip…but instead…nope, nothing. I mean i see a good percentage of the movies I see at midnight the night before, and a Tarantino-Rodriguez double movie fest is the kind of movie that is MEANT to be seen at midnight.
April 10th, 2007 at 6:17 am
And this news might just be a ploy to get more people to go see this movie. I was planning on going to see it anyways, but now that this has been mentioned, I better go see it soon, or I may have to pay twice as much.
I think I will go tonight.
April 10th, 2007 at 1:07 pm
hats a fuckin good point… catch the 2 films together while u can people coz they will split up and become seperate if they are not performing well at theatres. And on a cheeky level if theres anyone out there who wants 2 help make a low budget film (doesnt matter in which department you want 2 be involved) drop me a message at dpacolivet@hotmail.co.uk– doesnt matter where you are from its all about idea’s divided into segments and mashed together. thanku
May 28th, 2007 at 7:33 pm
I think splitting it into 2 movies is the stupidest thing to do because it takes the piss out of the double-feature thing. Plus you’d have to pay $40 for the two movies. Instead, they should have like a 4-disc set with the 2 movies’s in 2 discs and then extras on the other two. Just because no one wanted to see it in theatres doesn’t mean they won’t want to see it in their living room. But I have to say that is problably would be better in theatres. I just saw for the third time in theatres today.