MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN

Midnight Meat Train

Midnight Meat Train was financed by Lakeshore Entertainment for $15 million and Lionsgate signed on as US distributor under the president of acquisitions at Lionsgate, Peter Block. Block left the studio and Joe Drake assumed his responsibilities and buried the film, releasing Midnight Meat Train in 102 theaters to fulfill the contractual obligation to Lakeshore. Even worse, Drake had the film sent to 102 dollar theaters and second run theaters, so even with decent attendance, the film never had a chance. Drake also moved the pic from its May release date to keep it away from Rogue Pictures’ horror pic The Strangers, which Joe Drake was a producer on. Studio politics? Seeing that Midnight Meat Train had apparently the highest tested trailer in the mini-studios history, it sounds like one hell of a conflict of interest. Midnight Meat Train opened to just $34,394 with a per screen average of $337 for the weekend and was out of the bargain bin theaters a week later with just $83,361. The film went straight to video in most major territories, including director Ryûhei Kitamura’s home country Japan and grossed $3.4 million across multiple distributors who gave the film a small theatrical release.