Machete Kills
| Budget $20 million | Financed by: Aldamisa Entertainment; AR Films; Demarest Films; Overnight Films |
|---|---|
| Domestic Gross: $8,008,161 | Domestic Distributor: Open Road |
| Overseas Gross: $10,264,848 | Directed by: Robert Rodriguez |
Starring: Danny Trejo Mel Gibson | Produced by: Iliana Nikolic |
The $20 million Machete Kills was bankrolled by Aldamisa Entertainment, AR Films, Demarest Films and Overnight Films. Aldamisa handled international sales to distributors. Machete Kills was filmed in Texas and the Texas Film Commission denied the picture a tax rebate, claiming the movie portrayed texans in a negative way — which would have provided a maximum $2 million tax credit. Overnight then sued Robert Rodriguez’s company Quick Draw for $2 million in damages and claimed they would not have invested without the rebate, had they known. Overnight unsuccessfully also tried to block the release of the movie and then sued the Texas Film Commission. Lawsuits continued when Robert Rodriguez sued Aldamisa for $7.7 million for non-payment from both Machete Kills and Sin City: A Dame To Kill For. The suit was dropped when Aldamisa threatened to countersue for $50 million.
Open Road (owned by theater chains Regal and AMC) took US rights for an inexpensive $2 million from Aldamisa and committed over $20 million into P&A. Machete Kills was first dated for September 13, but pushed back to October 4 and then moved back again one week to the 11th, where it bowed against Captain Phillips and the limited run of Romeo And Juliet. Reviews were poor and it was tracking for a modest $8 million weekend, but was dead on arrival with $3,837,183 — placing #4 for the frame led by holdover Gravity. Even with the anemic opening gross, Machete Kills was front loaded and fell a huge 68.6% in its second weekend to $1,203,135 and sank 74.6% to $305,268 in its third session and promptly lost most of its theater count. The sequel closed its domestic run with only $8,008,161 after 5 weeks.
Overseas, the film played poorly with a terrible $10.2 million across numerous distributors and it was dumped straight to video in Spain and Brazil. Mel Gibson, who co-founded Icon decades earlier, had Icon distribute in Australia, where it made of all of $101,766 in 65 theaters for one week. Stunt casting involving troubled stars Charlie Sheen and Mel Gibson, acted as audience repellent.