Why Did Grindhouse Fail at the Box Office?

Leading up to the release of Grindhouse, everything seemed to be on pace for a huge hit for both the producers, Harvey and Bob Weinstein, and the two famed filmmakers, Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. The marketing buzz and industry expectations were in place, the film was tracking for a $25 million opening, and I was begrudgingly expecting a packed theater as I planned to see the film myself.

As I entered my local multiplex Saturday night that first weekend, my fears of a loud, boisterous screening filled with annoying teenagers was correct. But to find out just how annoying they were you would need to ask someone who came to see the Will Ferrel comedy Blades of Glory. What I found in the Grindhouse screening were empty seats and a smattering of thirty-something adults who,like me, were surprised to have the run of the theater. So what went wrong? The biggest factor cited by Harvey Weinstein himself is the three-hour plus running time of the double feature. According to his research, American movie goers shied away from the prospect of paying attention to anything that runs longer than 90 minutes, especially when it means sitting in a seat which snuggly presses upon our widening derrieres. I found Grindhouse very entertaining and I don't recall even once wondering what time it was, and suspect many others would have felt the same if they had decided to see the movie.

Another reason some stayed away from the film may have to do with Tarantino and Rodriguez's overestimation of film goer's nostalgia for 70's slasher flicks. Few saw these films when were originally released, and fewer still have any interest in them now. Instead of recognizing Tarantino and Rodriguez's homage to the low-budget camp these films embodied, perhaps many were turned off by what looked like mindless cartoon violence. Of course that describes most of what Hollywood releases as action films these days, but maybe what we didn't like was the cartoon-ish over-the-top violence. We like our violence realistic. Most folks in the target demographic are saving their money for Die Hard 4.

What I fear most from the failure of Grindhouse is the chilling effect it will have on the narrow space reserved for big-budget Hollywood productions helmed by original, creative and intelligent writers and directors. Such productions are under constant suspicion from studios and it's only the rare successes that keep other great films funded. The biggest difference in the film industry between April 1st and May 1st is that on April 1st a movie like Grindhouse could get greenlighted. On May 1st it couldn't. As the summer blockbusters begin to roll out, there's nothing on the horizon that could revive the confidence a studio would have in backing such films. Hopefully Grindhouse is just a bump in the road and not the beginning of a long drought in the production of smart,engaging films by studios with the cash to realize the visions of innovative filmmakers.