“Blades Of Glory” Trumps “Grindhouse” Debut In Second Week At The Box Office
Posted April 8, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Directors Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez probably had high hopes for their ambitious double feature “Grindhouse,” but the gory throwback to horror flicks of the 1970s ended up being the one caught in a blood bath over the weekend, bombing badly while a comedic romp soared for the second straight week.
Though “Grindhouse” was certainly a source of excitement for fans of the two directors and for movie nerds everywhere, it was Will Ferrell’s irresistible silliness that brought moviegoers back for a second week.
Despite expectations of closer to the $20 million mark, “Grindhouse” mustered just an $11.6 million opening. Ferrell’s figure skating joke fest on the other hand, followed up a $23 million start with $17 million in its second go-round, good for another stint as Hollywood’s top film.
“Grindhouse” actually fell all the way to fourth, behind “Meet the Robinsons” and Sony’s family comedy “Are We Done Yet?”, which stars Ice Cube in a sequel to “Are We There Yet?.”
“Grindhouse” is actually two full films. Rodriguez’s “Planet Terror” features Rose McGowan as a go-go dancer turned zombie fighter with a machine gun in place of a leg. Tarantino’s “Death Proof” stars Kurt Russell as a serial killer who stalks women with his beefed-up car.
“With these two filmmakers’ pedigree and the overall cool factor that this film had going for it, you would have figured it would have done a lot more business,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers.
Of course the movie’s extended run time was a major factor, and severely hampered the number of screenings theatres could offer. And while it played to decent crowds on each coast, the film failed to click in the American south and midwest.
“If you go see it with any audience, walk into any theater, you’ll see people screaming and applauding like a rock concert,” executive producer Harvey Weinstein said. “Maybe we didn’t educate the audience that it’s such an experience.”
Obviously moviegoers wanted to laugh instead, and Ferrell joining up with Jon Heder in the absurd story of skating rivals who become an unlikely mens pair is about as lighthearted a flick as you’ll find.
“There’s a real hunger out there for something that you can go to and say, ‘Hey, let me get away from the terrible things we have to watch and read every day,'” said Marvin Levy, spokesman for DreamWorks, one of the studios behind “Blades of Glory.”
Here’s the rest of the weekend’s top 10, with all figures estimated according to Media By Numbers LLC.
1. “Blades of Glory,” $23 million.
2. “Meet the Robinsons,” $17 million.
3. “Are We Done Yet?”, $15 million.
4. “Grindhouse,” $11.6 million.
5. “The Reaping,” $10.1 million.
6. “300,” $8.8 million.
7. “Wild Hogs,” $6.8 million.
8. “Shooter,” $5.8 million.
9. “TMNT,” $4.9 million.
10. “Firehouse Dog,” $4 million.
