So, I went to see Grindhouse again. I was so concerned about all the articles saying how disappointing the grosses were that I had to see it again to give a little more money to the cause. That, and I was hanging out with a friend who hadn't seen it yet wanted to. But, just to shake things up, we went to see it in the AMC Theatre on 42nd St, NYC, the same street that 20+ years prior housed a bunch of Grindhouse theatres. Consider it a homage to a time gone by.
My review hasn't changed much, only to say that it was much better the second time around. It seemed to move faster this time. Oh, and Zoe Bell rocks.
I do want to talk about why it was disappointing to so many pundits, and why I think they might be wrong.
The movie made $11 million lasty weekend, which was just about 1/6 of its budget of $67 Million. I really don't think that was all that bad. Sure. it's less than either Tarantino's or Rodriguez's last movies made in the last weekend, but when you make that much of your money back the first weekend, it's not that bad. You're that much closer to breaking even.
I think part of the problem is that expectaions were too high. They were thinking that the film would open at about $30 million. But there was a lot of things working against it.
First, it was almost 3 hours long. That cuts into to the total number of showings. Less showings, less money. Top that off with it being Easter weekend, not a time when most people like to see horror films If they wanted a grisly story about people dying and coming back to life, they'd go to church.
And the film itself isn't something that lends itself to a wide audience all by itself. It's two glorified B-movies, badly shot on bad quality film. You'd have to have a certain mindset to go into this and enjoy it. Most of America would just think it's bad. Add to that, it was one of four movies that opened that week, which pulls some money away, you get what happened here.
I hope more people go see it. They were thinking of Edgar Wright's "Don't" trailer being part of Grindhouse 2. I'd actually pay money to see more of Nick Frost as that Manchild in the basement.
And now, the trailers:
- El Cantante I think this movie came about as a result of a conversation much like this one in the Anthony/Lopez household:"J-Lo, honey, how could I become a big time movie star like yourself?" "Well, Marc dear, you just have to have the lead role in the film about the life of a singer who is relatively unknown to most people but is big in the Latino community who died tragically." "If I make such a movie, will you be in it?" "Sure, it's not like Gigli 2 is coming up anytime soon."
- Black Book: The new, highly talked about new movie from Paul Verhoeven. The thing most talked about are, in this order: 3. The Nazis are portrayed sympathetically and the resistance, except for the lead, are portrayed as a-holes. 2. The lead goes full frontal in a scene where she dyes her...well...you know. 1. This was directed by Paul Verhoeven? Showgirls Paul Verhoeven? There. I just saved you from reading any article about the movie.
- Halloween: A sure sign that I am getting old is when they start remaking movies I remember from my childhood. Not that I actually saw it when it came out, because I was only six or seven, but I remember it. I don't know if the movie really needed to be remade, or that Rob Zombie need to be the one to remake it, but here it is. Fun Fact: Michael Myers is played in this movie by Tyler Mane, the actor who played Sabertooth in the first X-Men movie. There will come a day when every single movie made in the US will feature at least one actor who previously appeared in a comic book movie. I guarantee it.
- 1408: I already saw this one. The only thing I have to add is that it looks like John Cusack is getting a little paunchy. Not that it's a bad thing or I am one to talk, but it's just an observation.
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