All this did was show me that I was right about how closed minded most filmgoers are.
Yes, filmgoers are closed minded. That is the case with the music business and the games business. Most people only tend to stick with what they think they will like. You can’t blame them for that. Grindhouse is only for a select few. Hell, QT knew it wouldn’t do that well:
Crave Online: Would you like to keep doing these Grindhouse movies if this is a success?
Quentin Tarantino: Yeah. One of the things I loved about it, it gave me an opportunity for me to say, let’s do an blaxploitation movie, do a spaghetti western, do something like that where the weight of the world isn’t riding on it, I don’t have to reinvent cinema in order to do it. I can just do it.
Crave Online: At this point, isn’t it also a safe bet that your audience will go for these kinds of movies?
Quentin Tarantino: What? I wish this was a safe, sure bet! It seems fairly risky to me but you know the answer to that question, this is what we like. We’ve been talking for 16 years now. We’re doing a movie we like. We’re actually just hoping there’s enough people like us.
<LINK_TEXT text=“Mandatory - Laugh. Learn. Do Some Good. … rview.html”>Mandatory - Laugh. Learn. Do Some Good.</LINK_TEXT>
Its part of making films I guess. Not every movie you make is gonna be a smash #1 hit. All the greats have hits n misses. Grindhouse was alot of fun, it just didnt tap into what the majority of people wanted to go see. On to Inglorious Bastards!!
When I first heard that Grindhouse was QT’s next project I wasn’t excited either, I wanted Inglorious Bastards. But as time went I got excited about Grindhouse, so it work out good for me.
Atleast GH is more of a cult classic.
Yeah, so what if it wasnt a super smash? I consider it awesome that those guys even did this at all. I mean think how cool it was to see a double feature with the trailers/ads/cartoons. It will be a blast to watch it on DVD too.
[quote=“Jack Rabbit Slim”]
When I first heard that Grindhouse was QT’s next project I wasn’t excited either, I wanted Inglorious Bastards. But as time went I got excited about Grindhouse, so it work out good for me.
Atleast GH is more of a cult classic.
[/quote]
I think my excitement for Grindhouse really kicked in when I saw the first trailer
well I think it’ll stay in theaters a fairly longer time, because they’re betting (and so am I) on this to catch up at least a little through word of mouth, and the slow trickling of money is better than now money. so everybody go see it again a few times, bring all your friends, and spread the word. I don’t give up hope for this great great movie
[quote=“PopeyePete”]
Yeah, so what if it wasnt a super smash?[/quote]
Yes, it’ll definetly be a sure gem in the personal collection. But look at what was ruined:
No more “Two Movies for the price of One” experiences ever again.
No demand for vintage Grindhouse material to be re-released.
No continuing franchise with kickass movies and the fun of seeing faux trailers again.
It really is hard to sink in given that both showings I attended garnered the most applause I’ve had at theaters in a looong time. And to think that this sort of experience will never have the chance to be repeated.
Ya know in a way it almost makes Grindhouse more special now because if we dont get anymore of these kinds of movie projects, it will remain a special little treasure in our QT/RR collections. Im just trying to be positive. Of course Im sad it ruined future double feature projects.
Oh, don’t get me wrong, I’m very excited about Grindhouse now (have the poster, the script, the destop wallpaper, the MSN display picture ets) and I cannot wait for June 1st. I loved the trailer, and most of the clips I have seen apart from one or two dialogue scenes that just don’t cut it for me (and for A LOT of other people).
I know how much of a bummer this is to grindhouse/exploitation fans that wanted more things to come from this, but sadly, I don’t think any of it will happen. Maybe it will be really big when it opens everywhere else, only time will tell.
But the thing is, it hasn’t bombed because it’s a bad film (anyway, wouldn’t you need to watch the film first before you can say it’s bad?!). It bombed mostly because of the poor marketing and the subject matter they are tackling. Very many people these days are not into what PT and DP are about.
Also, I think splitting it in two will help Death Proof. It’s obvious that DP got hit bad. All those walkouts during and before the movie, the long stretches of dialogue etc. People are tired by the time DP starts, also all the momentum that was built up by the preceeding trailers and films was slowed down with DP - naturally, people are going to be diappointed because it isn’t in the same vein as all the stuff before it. It’s interesting to see that everyone liked DP much more upon 2nd viewing. It is also the general consensus that DP is by far the most rounded film, and according to a lot of people the far superior film. So if DP is released seperately, there will be no expectation for it to be like PT and the trailers. DP works on it’s own as a cohesive piece. I think DP will also get the better reviews this way from the average person.
I myself want to watch the double feature, but I know that it will benefit DP a lot if they are seperated. I’m not a big exploitation/horror fan, so it doesn’t really bother me what happens with this situation. I just want to watch Death Proof, like it, then go on to look forward to Inglorious Bastards.
I think that a shorter DP should have been shown first. They probably thought that people would walk out if QT’s film was shown first, but I think DP killed all of the momenteum and energy brought on by PT and the great trailers.
I think the problem with the haters, which sadly there are many, is that they saw the trailer and went, holy shit this is crazy bs. So either, they went expecting bonkers shit all the way through and when it turned out only half of it was Gonzo, they all cried like little bitches. Or they didn’t see it because they thought it looked retarded.
I put the blame completley on the ads. They should have explained the whole two movie experience better.
I can definitely see Weiner splitting the films for dvd now.
I think most of my friends looked at the trailer and said “Machine Legged Girl? thats just stupid.”
[quote=“Biohazard”]
I don’t think they’ll be re-releasing anything, that would really cost a lot of money! New prints, more advertising,
[/quote]
What new prints? They were going to release it seperately internationally anyway. Why not strike those prints early and play them in the states first, that way they’ll be even more worn out for Europe.
[quote=“Biohazard”]
In its second week Grindhouse opens with merely 5M at the box office. I just want to know if QT or Robert have a worlwide fanbase, and if they do, where are they? http://movies.go.com/boxoffice <LINK_TEXT text=“http://www.blackvoicesblogs.com/2007/04 … -the-gate/”>Loading...</LINK_TEXT>
[/quote]
It’s made atleast $20m in America so far. And that’s just one country. Quentin once said that the U.S. is just another market and he’s right. It’ll clean up worldwide. You’ll see.
[quote=“TurboMan”]
well, if you bomb, Mr. Weinstein will feel much less confident in making more Grindhouse movies, which = no Machete(unless Direct-to-DVD), no more cheap, weird QT films, and no Thanksgiving 
[/quote]
Speaking of Thanksgiving, it’s actually already written. Eli Roth and Jeff Rendell (The Pilgrim) wrote it when they were 18. The script’s there. Somebody greenlight it.
[quote=“Scarface”]
Frankly I can’t even find one single reason why it bombed.
[/quote]
It’s because it’s two movies and people weren’t ready for that. It’s not so much the running time since like the top ten movies ever are unusually long but running time is a function of the real culprit, that it’s a double feature.
As good as the films are, a double feature is too exhausting for most moviegoers.
[quote=“Kilgore Trout”]
I am glad that it isn’t a commercial success…that will make it even more of a cult-classic. Fuck everybody who thinks that $$$ are the sign of a successful movie. Fuck em’
[/quote]
I totally agree
I don’t know where the RR and QT fans were for the opening weekend, and I don’t really care. Cinema and its box office, more and more these days, is becoming overshadowed by the power of DVD and the like. A film’s true staying power can often be found now in its DVD shelf life- so I’m not bothered that Grindhouse didn’t do all that well.
There’s always Europe to go anyway- us lot in Britain go wild for QT’s films, and RR does pretty well here too.
I’m kinda pissed that they’re gonna re-release em separately, I hope there’s a chance I getta see them both in time, or I won’t get to see RR’s in the cinema.
<LINK_TEXT text=“http://www.filmick.co.uk/2007/04/whats- … house.html”>http://www.filmick.co.uk/2007/04/whats-next-for-grind-house.html</LINK_TEXT>