Harvey Weinstein "Incredibly Disappointed" -- Will Split 'Grindhouse' In Two For Another Release

What does easter weekend have to do with anything? Who still celebrates that?

I think nobody was interested because to most viewers - even educated people - Grindhouse just looked like another Sin City. Who really needs another brianless 300-style movie that's all action and no story/acting/content?

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Irony...misspelling brainless.

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I read that article and Harvey Weinstein's reasoning seems only half right. Or maybe a third right. Darn thing was too long, the places showing it saw that and gave maybe four showings a day, Blades of Glory on four or five that many times at the least. True enough. But I think he's in error is saying that they didn't 'educate' people well enough. Well, ha, you know, people decide whether they want to see a movie or not and they decided that they didn't want to see that one. The movie after celebrates a small cultish group of viewers and they probably all went to see it. But the rest of us didn't. Simple.

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I can understand time being an issue, but I fully 'got' what the movie was about and by pulling them apart it kind of defeats the purpose. I don't go to theaters much anymore to begin with, so for me I will just take the full 3 plus hour ride once it is on DVD. Trying to sell them as individual films won't increase the chances of me getting to a theater to see them.

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I really don't understand why people are afraid of a 3 hour block of entertainment. Is it the simple American short attention span and the need of I want it NOW playing the tune, here? I see a movie, and if it's 90 minutes long or 3 hours long I expect to be entertained. If that entertainment comes from 90 minutes, that's cool, but there's the fact that I dropped $8 on a ticket for a mere hour and a half of entertainment. A 3 hour long, entertaining movie is, in my book, better as it gives you move for your money. This is, of course, as long as what you are watching is something you enjoy, because if it isn't 3 hours is a really long wait for nothing. And Grindhouse, well, was a 3 hour long roller-coaster ride of pure enjoyment. And if you're unsure of waiting for the DVD or not, "DON'T!" It's a thing you need to enjoy and feel in the theater.

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So Grindhouse had a bad opening weekend. So what? The thing everyone is forgetting is that, being "cult" directors, RR and QT's flicks are "long-tail" releases with plenty of shelf life; in 2017, mark my words, we'll be shelling out for this and their other movies in Ultra-HD-DVD, or DBD (Direct Brain Download), or whatever format movies come in by then. Yes, it would be nice if it was a hit right out of the gate, but this flick is not dead, not by a long shot.

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Releasing them seperately is a terrible idea in my opinion. While I really enjoyed Grindhouse I don't think either film is strong enough to stand on its own as a way attract any more of an audience than it already has. If it was advertised as two seperate films I don't think I would have necessarily paid to go see them.

While I'm no fan of overly long movies, I don't think you can blame the running time alone for why it didn't do so well. Millions of people had no problem sitting through over 3 hours for LOTR. Grindhouse was simply not marketed well. The limited amount of commercials I saw never gave a clear indication of what the movie was. If I didn't read alot of movie news sites I doubt I would have known what I was getting myself into.

And yes there are people who still celebrate Easter. If not for religious reasons it's still a big "family holiday." Plenty of people go home for Easter and don't end up at a movie on that particular weekend.

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It kind of defeats the whole "double feature" concept. The whole thing is more of an experience than a movie, like going to an amusement park, I guess. They should have both options available. Or just show them both and have people come in for one or the other if they want, in true double-feature style.

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Gee, I wish Tarantino would go back and make another great mature film like JACKIE BROWN rather than these immature "homages" to trash films. He already did it with KILL BILL anyway. Grow up, Quentin, you're over forty now!!!

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The time should not be a factor. Sure alot of people can not sit still for a half hour TV show, but those that wanted to see it, as i did, will...

On the bad side, Death Proof was way too talkative....
If Q.T had cut about half of the talking, the movie would have been shorter and Death Proof would have been alot better. The pace of Planet Terror and the previews died so fast after Death Proof started with all the talking that even when the action started most people were asleep.

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Man, some of you people should simply grow up and realize that there are lots of moviegoers that consist of FAMILIES (you know, with little kids, mom and dad?). I'm sorry -- I don't mean to be insulting. But that's the way the world works.

I myself watched Grindhouse, and enjoyed it. But I could understand why this movie did not do well over the Easter weekend. It was a family holiday, and when the families went out together to catch a movie, they definitely weren't going to take little Madison and Connor to see peg-leg Rose McGowan.

Secondly, the whole thing is quite long. It turned out to be 2 full-length movies, when each should have been under 50 minutes. (Admit it: Deathproof would have worked far better at that running time.)

But, oh -- boo-freaking-hoo, American cinema and America itself is cultural doomed, because the masses didn't embrace a movie that is essentially geared to a niche audience. (Interesting how all these movie blogs whining about this have suddenly forgotten the box office records that 300 broke in America.)

While I myself think Blades of Glory looks like s**t, I find it pathetic that some of you people seem to be taking Grindhouse's less than stellar box office way too personally.

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I LOVED the experience, I LOVE long films...

but I was left wondering *during a midnight showing at Mann's GRaumman's Chinese theathre in Hollywood*

WHY WAS THE THEATRE NOT FULL?
Who was the film made for?

I am a tarantino/rodriguez fanatic... not everyone else is...

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Three hours is too long? I believe Tarantino himself said it best when he said:

"One thing I don't understand is that average American moviegoers cannot watch a movie for three hours, yet they'll watch a stupid, boring, horrific football game for four hours. Now, that is boredom at its most colossal."

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Speaking as someone who enjoyed Grindhouse, I would have enjoyed it a hell of a lot more if it had just been a double feature with Planet Terror and a full-length Machete. It probably would have played a lot better with the "South and Midwest", too.

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The issue with Grindhouse's numbers is a major mystery to certain people in America. I went to see this movie on Wednesday at the critics screening in NYC, and it blew the doors off the theatre. It had people cheering laughing screaming. I'm 25 and originally from Paterson, NJ there was an old theatre there called the Fabian and it was a classic grindhouse. They used to play kung-fu double features and my father used to take me. I must have been 6 or 7 but I can remember loving to go to the movies and being there all day.

This theatre that played Grindhouse was full of people younger than me and older than me and they all loved it. None of them cared how long the movie was or what the stories were, we sat down and had a great time three hours later I didn't want it to end. We all sat through the final credits hoping that the trailer for Hobo With a Shotgun would play. To say that the running time is the issue concerning this movie would be an interesting argument with one major exception. Look up any coverage of this movie and it says two things, that this is a niche movie and its 3 hours long. When you inform anyone possibly interested in seeing the movie that it's only for a small group of weirdos that have nothing better to do than sit in a movie for three hours this is what happens. Combine it with the idiotic release window of Easter and you're killing your box office. The marketing should have focused on calling it a horror movie and a car action movie with no holds barred. Combine that with an earlier release weekend and it would have been fine. Or they should have dropped it into the summer to begin with.

I think that people are looking to find an answer as to why this movie didn't do well and the answer is simple. Bad release date, and allowing the media to frame it as a weird movie that's too long. This movie was critic proof http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/grindhouse/ so if it was marketed correctly it would have been okay. The Weinsteins should have done a NY/LA/Austin/Chicago/etc. release weeks ago. Then let it travel into the middle of the country. Now they are looking for a way to salvage, but this is not the way. Unfortunately, they're going to make a lot of money from Death Proof in its extended cut in Europe and Planet Terror's extended cut in Asia which will "prove" to them that they needed to do this from the beginning. The dvds will be sold seperately and unfortunately the film's vision will suffer.

To address the personal disappointment being expressed by people over the opening, just think of it this way. All the industry insiders with some kind of an edge, most film critics, filmakers, and film afficienados seem to love this flick. So as a film student, that wants to work in a film industry with room for personal visions and high concept films I'm personally disappointed because I'd like to work on projects like this instead of the next ten Will Farrell movies. It's personal because its one of the few movies that I hyped up to myself and still loved, it was interesting and different, I want to see a Machete and hopefully WWotSS headlined Grindhouse 2 and I'd like for there to be more movies of this type in the future.

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I live in middle america and I have to say that us hill billy retards just werent rightly edumacated about Grindhouse or what dat der Grindhouse means, was we supposed to leave after Planet Terror?

The thing about films shown at a "Grindhouse" is that they were made on an extremely low budget so that they could make there money back, because extreme sex and violence in movies doesnt always drive in the masses, but it does bring in a solid following. Enough to make a profit on a low / no budget feature, perhaps Rodriguez and Tarantino's flaw was that they didn't go ALL OUT Grindhouse by getting nobody actors and having cheap special effects.

The bottom line though is that people like to go to the movies in groups and generally when you are with a group of people there will be one or two who will say "I don't want to see this weird three hour movie about zombies and kurt russell, lets all go laugh at Will Ferrell being an ice skater."

Then an argument will ensue and everyone will end up at my house playing Boggle and drinking Keystone till 4am talking about how this was so much better than a movie.

This wasn't some marketing mistake, and two movies instead of one might be a better idea, but Grindhouse has already gone its route lets not rehash these movies separately in the summer, because then that would just be three cases of failure. Someone should have told the producers that no one wants 3 hours of exploitation, well some want it as the 11 million dollars prove.

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Why spend millions and millions of dollars to recreate the experience of a low budget B movie or two? You see, this idea was doomed from the beginning.

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i didnt mean for my above post to send off the negative vibe, I like that Rodriguez and Tarantino are trying for something different. I just don't think people should be shocked by this opening, the film will make its money back it is a far cry from a flop and I am sure it will do well on dvd.

the thing is, if you try something this far out and experimental you shouldn't be surprised when it doesn't become the years biggest hit. While I do respect QT and RR for trying something new, I don't necessarily find them to be excessively talented, Tarantino (i know everyone says this) hasnt ever really topped or come anywhere near his masterpiece Pulp Fiction as for Rodriguez I love all of his cool filmmaking advice he gives on his dvds but I just don't find his films to be of interest, I am always more captivated to see how he made his films.

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I didn't go this weekend partly because I didn't want to deal with the crowds.

Sorry, Harvey.

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Mike - That makes total sense. I went this weekend only because I ended up going to a Saturday afternoon showing. I simply can't stomach having to deal with the hordes or rude obnoxious people that go to the movies.

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