Caffeinated Clint
Weinstein’s counter-attack
I’ll talk more about in the next Caffeinated Clint, but seriously, what the heck happened with “Grindhouse” over the weekend? It’s blown me away how low the returns are on it…. I mean, “Blades of Glory” took an ashamed poop on it!
One could a) blame the lack of advertising and promotion on the net for it, b) one could also blame the release date, and c) you could also say nobody flocked to when they heard Mary Elizabeth Winstead keep her clothes on in it… but there’s really no reason why people should’ve stayed away. As a critic, a jaded one who doesn’t give two shits about most of the movies about these days, I can seriously say this is the film atop of my must-see list… and its been there for twelve months or more.
The one man scratching his head – well, besides yours truly – is Harvey Weinstein. The big man simply can’t fathom why people stayed away from the film like it was an AIDS-infested cocker spaniel. Now, Weinstein’s out to do whatever he can to save the film… and get it an audience…. Even if that means re-releasing the ‘double feature’ as single features (an idea I fuckin’ hate – I mean, the idea of “Grindhouse” was to do a tribute to the 70s drive-in double features, right? What’s the point if you’re going to release them as solo features?).
Nikki Fenke over at Deadline Hollywood Daily says she spoke to Weinstein this morning about the film and he revealed his back-up plan. “[He] told me this morning that he’s “incredibly disappointed” with the half-than-expected $12 mil box office for Grindhouse released on Easter Weekend (a controversial move itself). So much so, that he’s considering abandoning the double feature as a single feature concept and re-releasing the Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez movie around the U.S. “in a couple of weeks” as two separate feature-length movies with additional footage put in.”
“I’m incredibly disappointed. We tried to do something new and obviously we didn’t do it that well,” Harvey told the site. “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.” (At one point in Grindhouse, a sex scene is interrupted because of “two missing reels” — one of the many conceits and indulgences.)
As the site points out, there’s another (besides mine above) why Weinstein should just cut his losses and forget about re-releasing the films as singular releases – money. Its going to cost a bucketload to re-market the films, and with big movies like “Spider-Man 3” due out next month, its likely to get squished again by the competition anyway.
A quick-look over at Box Office Mojo shows that “Grindhouse” still hasn’t reached the $12 million dollar mark. In comparison, another new release, the silly-ass Ice Cube comedy “Are We There Yet?” has pocketed over $18 million in the same amount of time.
Here’s the kicker: Last Easter The Weinstein Company released another film. “Scary Movie 4”. It made bucket loads.
Just sad.
Get out there and see “Grindhouse”…. Before you have to pay “twice” to see the same movie!
