Written by: Samuel K. Sloan (SoSF Producer & Managing News Director)
After all the hype, the high praise from critics and film reviewers and an almost non-stop ad program, the Robert Rodriquez and Quentin Tarantino film “Grindhouse” was a box office disaster on its opening weekend.
The Ferrell/Heder ice skating farce “Blades of Glory” still reigns king of ice mountain holding on to its number one slot it gained during its debut a week ago. Right behind “Blades” is the CGI flick “Meet the Robinsons” with the new Ice Cube family comedy “Are We Done Yet?” coming in third. Languishing in fourth is “Grindhouse,” a full $12 million behind “Blades.” Rounding out the top five is the Hiliary Swank supernatural thriller “The Reaping.”
I have to say that American moviegoers really got this one wrong. How anyone could choose to go see Wil Ferrell and Jon Heder over Kurt Russell and Rose McGown remains a mystery to me. But, it’s American’s money and they can spend it as they wish, even if they throw it away on junk like “Blades.”
Our full Top Ten tally will be available in a day or two.
You know, that’s a rather scathing commentary when it’s your opinion. I would much rather see Will Farrell in a comedy, than go see a special-effects laden blood-spilling gorefest with no plot.
But hey, that’s just my opinion.
i somewhat agree. im not a will ferrell comedy fan at all, so i wouldn’t go see ‘blades,’ but i also had no desire to see purposefully badly-made movies in homage of other badly made movies. i think they over-estimated the audience for bad films, especially at the theatre. grindhouse will probably do much better on dvd.
FWIW, I don’t think that either Planet Terror or Death Proof are purposefully badly-made movies. I haven’t that much pure fun at the movies in a long time. Planet Terror is one of the best zombie movies I’ve ever seen and Death Proof is a return to form for Kurt Russell back to the days of Snake Pliskin and Big Trouble In Little China. The audience I saw it with was cheering and clapping throughout the whole show. Word of mouth is what will save the bix office on this one. Once word gets out how much fun it is, people will come. I imagine we will be able to see Grindhouse at the cinema, which is where it needs to be seen, for much longer than Blades of Glory. Oh- and Zoe is a badassssss!
Grindhouse is great…if you read my review you would know that….but it is easy to see how the Ferrell/Heder combo equals box office gold. I think the real question is why in gods name did people choose to see Are We Done Yet over Grindhouse. That is the ultimate travesty.
“No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.”
H.L. Menken
Which explains Will Ferrell’s movie success in general; though I won’t rag on Blades because I haven’t seen it and occasionally Ferrell does make something that I find funny and entertaining.
Grindhouse does face the major disadvantage of being 3 hrs long. Most comedies are 1:30 to 1:45 hrs which means they can play to almost twice as many people in one day in the same number of theaters. The real question is, does Grindhouse have legs? Can it sustain a steady number of viewers over more then just a few weeks? Seeing the audience reaction of a largely full house out here in Saint George, Utah I think it might not be the disaster Sam thinks it is.
Grindhouse was wonderful – but I do think it was marketted and released incorrectly. Well acted, well written, fantastically staged, the films hit all the notes they need to… with very few missteps and only one complete misfire by Rob Zombie.
IMHO – the movie should have been released to art houses, slowly, and let word of mouth build. Ppl went expecting a Pulp Fiction or a Sin City – and that is not what this film is nor was intended to be. It’s a love letter to a type of cinema where many blockbusters today can find their roots.
If it makes you feel any better, I -didn’t- see Blades of Glory because Ferrell makes me want to gouge my eyes out. But I also didn’t see Grindhouse because I hate Tarantino. I would have expected better box office results, though, since so many people seem to love him.
The only reason I enjoy Will Farrell is because he’s as big a dork as me, and possibly even more so. He makes such a caricature of people. Like weathermen, NASCAR drivers, and figure skaters. Why wouldn’t you want to make fun of those people.
I’ll admit, though… Kurt Russell is a draw. But the whole gun-attached-to-stub thing is a joke.
Does this mean we won’t be seeing “Hobo With a Shotgun” or “Thanksgiving” any time soon?
I saw ‘Blades’ last week: thought it was an OK movie. I can see why the general population would prefer seeing it over ‘Grindhouse’. A lot of people couldn’t care less about seeing a movie like that, and even fewer want to sit through over 3 hours of it.
I saw it yesterday and thought it was great, but I don’t plan to watch it again until I’m watching it in my living room. Remember: the pause button is your friend!
Not to beat a dead horse, but while I can appreciate an actor who does good caricature, I am much more appreciative when he (or she) doesn’t do the same caricature each and every time.
I’m with others on the length of Grindhouse being an issue. I plan to see it (sounds like I maybe better get to it soon), but I can definitely see people being put off by the length. Telling people that it’s actually two movies in one probably doesn’t help either – that just makes it sound extra long.
I’d imagine it won’t hurt Tarentino either way – he seems to be in a position to do what he wants (he takes a long, long time between movies). I’d also imagine that DVD sales will do pretty well.
I saw grindhouse toay and thought Terror Planet was great, everything I expected. But Death Proof reminded me of Kill Bill Vol 2, boring part, boring part,cool part, boring, boring, cool. The only reason I won’t see it a second time is the scond half is not as good as the first.
And would agree that most people are waiting on the dvd for this one. he special feature should be cool.
Later on today I plan on picking up the unrated and/or director’s cut of Payday.
I saw “Grindhouse” and it’s a really great movie. “Planet Terror” is a lot better than “Death Proof”, but the second movie does have some really great moments. The fake trailers are good too. But it’s too bad that they aren’t real movies, because I’d go see some of them in a heartbeat. And the three hours go by pretty fast.
Oh, I just found out that Rodriquez WILL be making “Machete” into a real movie. I definitely want to see it.
if ‘escape from new york’ and ‘big trouble’ are examples of well made movies company that grindhouse is in, then this conversation is moot. ‘big trouble’ especially was complete crap. although im not a fan of them, i assume it’s one of those so-bad-its-good things. if that’s what you like, great – and if that’s what grindhouse is an homage to, great. but i won’t be interested and i doubt the majority of the movie going public will.
apparently you can over-estimate the b-movie appetite of the american people.
for a non-fanboy response:
http://slate.msn.com/id/2163708
April 10th, 2007 at 6:54 pm
Oh, I just found out that Rodriquez WILL be making “Machete†into a real movie. I definitely want to see it.
When I saw the “trailer” I thought this would be one they would actually try for.