GRINDHOUSE Becomes A Quick Easter Weekend Flop

Easter weekend proved to be a terrible time to release the grizzly tribute to "B" films from directors Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. GRINDHOUSE a 3 hour long two film double feature of two faux 70's vintage violence and exlploitation films only took in a mere $11.6 million dollars in the U.S., ranking a poor fourth place with lightweight comedies such as the new one with Will Ferrell taking top place.

Reviews have generally been very good for the film which features a zombie film by Rodriguez, PLANET TERROR, complete with an lovely female amputee whose stump leg is a machine gun blowing away zombies heads, and the Kurt Russell crime and road rage feauture, death proof about a car that is invulnerable to destruction to the driver only. And some outrageous mock feature previews play between the the two films featuring actors such as Nicholas Cage.

If only this film had debuted on any other weekend, it might have done far better than it did. The film did especially bad business in both the South and MidWest, but proved some West Coast and East Coast strength among viewers. Unless the film picks up strength during the next few days, Tarantino and Rodriguez might have to count on a quick move to issue the DVD and hope to recover production costs there. But compared to other critical hits for Tarantino such as PULP FICTION and KILL BILL, Volumes I & II, this weekends flop of this great project had to be a major disappointment for a very interesting bit of entertainment.

On the Rotten Tomatoes movie site, a survey of critics from across the U.S. gave GRINDHOUSE an excellent 83% recommended rating, compared to just 69% for the winning first place Will Ferrell comedy, BLADES OF GLORY, a sendup of professional ice skating which brought in $23.o million at the box office. The animated MEET THE ROBINSONS was second place at this Easter weekend's box office at $17.0 million, with a 66% critical approval rating in the Rotten Tomatoes survey. Third place at the box office was the awful Ice Cube comedy, ARE WE DONE YET?, which took in $15.0 million despite only a mere 9% positive critica surveyl rating over at Rotten Tomatoes. Fifth place went to the weak Hillary Swank horror film, THE REAPING, which only took in $10.1 million, and was the considered the worst of this weekend's top films with only a mere 8% critical approval over at the Rotten Tomatoes survey of critics. But with this Easter weekends' taste for light comedy, both the violent GRINDHOUSE and the more subdued horror flick, THE REAPING seemed out of the public's taste and suffered from poor ticket sales as a result.

Making a great film simply does not ensure success at the box office it seems. The public has to be in the mood for a particular film.