Felon said:
You are being somewhat obtuse. The stuido didn't walk blindly into a brick wall.
We are well past the days when a movie's success or failure--or, to use a less nebulous assessment, profit margin--hinged entirely on its box office gross, and movie studios are well are aware of this even if the rest of the world isn't. Movies that are family unfriendly--namely, R-rated action and horror films--focus on cleaning up with DVD sales (and, to a lesser degree, pay-per-view and other secondary sources).
Your insulting attitude aside, I do some work in that industry, as does my wife.
Pay per view? Are you kidding me?
I never said everything hinged on box office gross. But a LOT does, when you go for a box office release like the studio did with this movie. Studios do not make movies hoping to recoup expenses on DVDs, if they go for a wide release in the theaters for the movie. There are significantly different strategies used for a direct to DVD release vs. a theater release, and in this case the money was spent and route taken was towards theater release. Sure, they will make some DVD money, but that was not the plan, and it's not going to make up for all the money sunk into the box office release. This movie is going to come out a massive negative for the studio.
DVD sales are trending down by the way, not up. Movie ticket sales are trending up, not down. You information on those trends may be a few years old.
There is no question at all - NONE - that this studio is extremely disappointed with how this movie did, and it is losing money. That's not debatable, it's not a matter of opinion, it's a fact. Weinstein himself said he is "[R]eally disappointed with the paltry opening"
http://in.news.yahoo.com/070411/139/6eepb.html . In fact, he just said (in addition to that disappointment): "We tried to do something new and obviously we didn't do it that well," See: "Even Weinstein says Grindhouse a dud".
http://www.thestar.com/artsentertainment/article/202618 .
And you know what else studios know? More and more, folks are deciding that going to the movies is a lousy deal. They'd rather own the $30 DVD. This is where a long running time doesn't hurt your sells. It helps! So do things like "extended version" and "unrated" and "director's cut". Can you imagine how jam-packed the Grindhouse DVD will be? They'll be releasing new editions for years to come.
Well, lightning didn't strike, but nothing went actually wrong here. Your outlook on this is just too short-term.
Again movie ticket sales are UP, not down.
http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2007-04-01-box-office-2007_N.htm
And DVD sales are trending DOWN, not up.
http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/29/analysts-predict-declining-dvd-sales-in-2007/
As far as this movie, it just dropped SEVENTY-FOUR PERCENT in the second weekend.
http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/disturbia-opens-no-1-on-friday-the-13th/
"Meanwhile, there was more bad news at the box office for Quentin Tarantino's, Robert Rodriguez's and Harvey Weinstein's double-feature Grindhouse. Not only did the Hard R-rated pic place only 11th its second week out, but The Weinstein Co.'s release dropped a whopping 74% Friday to squeeze out only $1.3 mil from 2,629 venues for a paltry new cume of $16.7 mil. Its per-screen average of just $494 meant the much-hyped movie was playing in near-empty theaters. The most it could make this weekend is $4 mil."
There is no way you can make lemonade out of that lemon. Even the pessimists surrounding this movie didn't predict that big a drop in the second weekend. This is a disaster for this movie. It's already become a cautionary tale in the industry, with the new Harry Potter movie having it's run time cut because Grindhouse bombed so hard:
http://www.dailyindia.com/show/133217.php/Fifth-Potter-flick-shortened-to-avoid-Grindhouse-fate
I know you think I have some dog in this fight. I don't. I wish the movie HAD done well, and I have nothing against this movie or it's creators, and I plan on seeing it soon (before they pull it from the theaters). But I'm telling you, sometimes movies fail, and this one failed. I'm not being short sighted in saying that, or uneducated, or anything like that. This movie is bombing so hard it is making splashes through the industry.