GRINDHOUSE

Grindhouse

Grindhouse was financed by The Weinstein Company, for what was to be two 60 minute features for a $40 million budget, but the film ballooned into 191 minutes and the budget increased to $53 million. The Weinstein Company was going to release the film through their distribution deal with MGM, which included a lucrative TV deal for the film to play on Showtime, but directors Tarantino and Rodriguez requested that The Weinstein Co release the film themselves. Grindhouse was to play as a double bill in the US/Canada, UK, Australia/New Zealand and South Africa, but would be split and play separately in every other territory to recoup extra sales when The Weinstein Company pre-sold the films overseas. The films sold very well to distributors and would cover a reported $46 million of the $53 million budget for The Weinstein Company, but TWC heavily marketed the film in the US, adding an estimated $30+ million in P&A costs. TWC opened the film over Easter weekend in the US and Grindhouse was tracking for an opening north of $20 million, but flopped with $11,596,613 in 2,624 theaters — placing #4 for the weekend led by holdovers Blades of Glory and Meet the Robinsons and new opener Are We Done Yet?. The well reviewed film earned a solid B+ cinemascore from audiences, but fell a huge 62.6% in its second weekend to $4,331,372 killing its chance at breaking out. Grindhouse continued to post large weekly declines and ended its disappointing run with $25,037,897. TWC would see back about $13.75 million after theaters take their percentage of the gross. When the film pulled in poor numbers in the US, overseas distributors who were going to release Grindhouse as a double bill panicked and split the two films. Death Proof pulled in $30.6 million across numerous distributors and Planet Terror cumed $10.8 million. Recorded domestic home video sales for the separately released movies were a strong $40 million.