Grindhouse

[Mistwell]

I don't see how making back 1/6 of your cost in the first 3 days is a 'tank.' I'm seeing it again.

It's a total tank. There is a standard ratio for movies and percentage that they make after opening weekend (often called movie playability). It was expected to make double what it made on this opening weekend, and expectations were set relatively conservatively. This movie took one on the chin in a big bad way, by any measure.

Yahoo just declared it a bloodbath at the box office:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070409/film_nm/boxoffice_dc;_ylt=ApTyOoZvDUiEGpwK4m4cbOEwFxkF

 

[DonTadow]

It's a total tank. There is a standard ratio for movies and percentage that they make after opening weekend (often called movie playability). It was expected to make double what it made on this opening weekend, and expectations were set relatively conservatively. This movie took one on the chin in a big bad way, by any measure.

Yahoo just declared it a bloodbath at the box office:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070409/film_nm/boxoffice_dc;_ylt=ApTyOoZvDUiEGpwK4m4cbOEwFxkF

whose idea was it to release it on Easter Weekend? R rated movies aren't known for performing during this period.

 

[Mistwell]

whose idea was it to release it on Easter Weekend? R rated movies aren't known for performing during this period.

The people more prone to be busy on Easter Weekend are also the people least likely to be the demographic for "R" rated movies.

There was a ton of competition for family films this weekend, but virtually no competition for "R" rated movies this weekend. With the Thursday debut they were able to take advantage of the Good Friday holiday which made Thursday night seem like a Friday night.

It's not like "R" rated movies do badly on Easter Weekend as a rule. "Inside Man" did quite well last year on Easter Weekend. No, sorry, it's not the R-Rating, and it's not Easter Weekend, that kicked this movie so hard.

 

[Mark CMG]

The people more prone to be busy on Easter Weekend are also the people least likely to be the demographic for "R" rated movies.

There was a ton of competition for family films this weekend, but virtually no competition for "R" rated movies this weekend.

Unless you believe that some of the people who go to see "R" rated movies sometimes have to go with their families to family movies and that the more competition for family movies means even less of those people available to see "R" rated movies.

 

[Mistwell]

Unless you believe that some of the people who go to see "R" rated movies sometimes have to go with their families to family movies and that the more competition for family movies means even less of those people available to see "R" rated movies.

So you are of the opinion that this was somehow a special Easter? That, despite "R" Rated movies doing fine, or even well, in prior years on Easter, this one they didn't? That the studio didn't do their homework, and all their estimates were wrong for the weekend in general (as opposed to just for this movie)?

Come on...it wasn't Easter.

The movie didn't do well. That's what happened. There is nothing to blame other than the movie or the marketing. It's not some mysterious outside factor. People are not interested in seeing this movie as much as the studio thought they would be. It's as simple as that. People shouldn't seek out excuses just because they happened to like the movie. I've found lots of movies I like that didn't do well in the theater, and it was because my tastes do not exactly mirror the tastes of the population in general. For example, I like M Night movies, and a lot of people do not.

 

[Mark CMG]

Who said anything about Easter? (Not me!) I haven't seen the movie, and I have no stake in it, so I can only base my unbiased opinions on the information available (information which came from you).

I get the feeling that you have some personal stake in this. The movie did not do as well as expected and there are always reasons why. I don't think it hurts anyone for a few posters to surmise the possible reasons. To read your posts, one would have to believe that there are never any reasons and things just inexplicably happen. You can't possibly believe that.

Now, according to you, there were more than the usual number of family films released over this Easter weekend. Seems reasonable to assume that might have something to do with any non-family film not doing well. Certainly seems plausible.

 

[Cthulhudrew]

So you are of the opinion that this was somehow a special Easter? That, despite "R" Rated movies doing fine, or even well, in prior years on Easter, this one they didn't? That the studio didn't do their homework, and all their estimates were wrong for the weekend in general (as opposed to just for this movie)?

Well, let's see (information from www.boxofficeguru.com):

Easter weekend 2006:

1. Scary Movie 4 ($40.2 mil)
2. Ice Age: the Meltdown ($20 mil)
3. The Benchwarmers ($9.9 mil)
4. The Wild ($9.7 mil)
5. Take the Lead ($6.8 mil)

Easter weekend 2005:

1. Guess Who ($20.7 mil)
2. Miss Congeniality 2 ($14 mil)
3. The Ring 2 ($13.6 mil)
4. Robots ($12.9 mil)
5. The Pacifier ($8.1 mil)

Easter weekend 2004:

1. The Passion of the Christ ($15.2 mil)
2. Hellboy ($10.8 mil)
3. Johnson Family Vacation ($9.4 mil)
4. The Alamo ($9.1 mil)
5. Walking Tall ($8.4 mil)

Easter weekend 2003:

1. Anger Management ($25 mil)
2. Holes ($16.3 mil)
3. Malibu's Most Wanted ($12.6 mil)
4. Bulletproof Monk ($8.7 mil)
5. Phone Booth ($5.7 mil)

Of all of those movies in the top 5 during Easter weekend, I don't see any (aside from Phone Booth) that are rated R (though I'll have to double check a couple).

Doesn't seem like Easter weekend is a good one for rated R movies in general, nor (frankly) good box office weekends period. Now whether that has anything to do with familes taking kids to PG movies or not is debatable, and beyond my ability to discern at this point, but it does look like it's generally not a good weekend to open a rated R film (or, again, any film).

 

[DonTadow]

The people more prone to be busy on Easter Weekend are also the people least likely to be the demographic for "R" rated movies.

There was a ton of competition for family films this weekend, but virtually no competition for "R" rated movies this weekend. With the Thursday debut they were able to take advantage of the Good Friday holiday which made Thursday night seem like a Friday night.

It's not like "R" rated movies do badly on Easter Weekend as a rule. "Inside Man" did quite well last year on Easter Weekend. No, sorry, it's not the R-Rating, and it's not Easter Weekend, that kicked this movie so hard.

INside man and grindhouse are two very different type of movies, one appealing to a more... sophisticated audience. Pus Inside Man carries the African American crowd whom reports show pay more money on movies than any other demo. (Look at what movie was number 3).

Plus, I think Denzel was coming off of an oscar which hyped that movie even more. Rosio is cute but she doesn't pull in the crowd that Denzel will.

It sucks that movies have gone from art to big business. Filmmaking is loss

 

[Mistwell]

Wow. Okay, I give up. You guys are right...the studio had no idea at all about what they were doing with their money. It was just obvious to anyone that this movie would tank because it was Easter Weekend. And as soon as a normal weekend hits, in 2 days, it will skyrocket.

 

[Mistwell]

Who said anything about Easter? (Not me!) I haven't seen the movie, and I have no stake in it, so I can only base my unbiased opinions on the information available (information which came from you).

I get the feeling that you have some personal stake in this.

Nope. I have not seen it yet, but I plan on seeing it in the next couple of days. I just think it's an interesting topic. When movies do half as well as expected, I like to figure out why. That's it.

The movie did not do as well as expected and there are always reasons why. I don't think it hurts anyone for a few posters to surmise the possible reasons. To read your posts, one would have to believe that there are never any reasons and things just inexplicably happen. You can't possibly believe that.

I think it hurts when people make excuses about external factors. It's a matter of bias. I don't really care about this movie one way or the other. But a lot of folks who do, seem to want to blame external factors. I don't buy that. I think the movie did poorly because people are not buying into the concept of intentionally replicating bad movies from the 70s. Or because of bad marketing. Or because the movie was too long.

Some concepts work with the public and others do not, and I think this one did not work.

Now, according to you, there were more than the usual number of family films released over this Easter weekend. Seems reasonable to assume that might have something to do with any non-family film not doing well. Certainly seems plausible.

Not to me. Same number of family films as usual. I was just saying that there was a lot of competition for family films, as usual for Easter Weekend. However, that does not equate with R rate films doing poorly.

About half the nation celebrates Easter, and that is only one day of a three day weekend. Another group (much less than half) celebrate good Friday. But that still leaves lots of time to see a movie. And people DID see movies this weekend, lots of them. Just not this one.

You watch. This movie isn't going to suddenly rebound this upcoming weekend. Something went wrong with this film. Maybe the advertising, maybe how long the movie turned out to be, maybe people are not buying into the concept. But it wasn't external factors like competition or Easter.