So what's the deal with this?

Grindhouse Presents - Death Proof

I'm guessing this is a way to try and squeeze more profit out of the home video market. GRINDHOUSE was met with much indifference upon release maybe they decided to re think thge DVD release and do the films separately ( the way the films were handled in most territories ). It's a shame as far as I am concerned, I was hoping to kick back and give GRINDHOUSE another go around in my living room. Now won't have that opportunity.
All the comments over at Amazon are understandably negative.

90 min.? It's not even the longer version? Yet, there are two discs?

Ya know, between the crappy release date and now this, I'm starting to wonder if the Weinsteins just decided at one point that they didn't like GRINDHOUSE and then went to deliberately sabotage it at every opportunity, while putting on good face to please Tarantino and Rodriguez.

Jeez guys, it's just a preliminary page on Amazon.

We all know that they'll make the film(s) available separately, together, 'R' rated, unrated, extended, buggered-up, and pristine.

They may do so in an infuriating and disingenuous order and take an obnoxious amount of time to boot, but GRINDHOUSE will be released in your personally preferred iteration at some point. They're going to try to strategically squeeze every buck they can out of the ancillaries - the Weinsteins don't like losing money, and this one hurt their pride. They thought it was a can't miss, and they fumbled it. They're going to hedge every bet from here on in.

Any Mobians have a link to the earlier discussions about Grindhouse?
I finally saw the double feature version on a pretty good boot DVD given to me by a friend, complete with audience laughter & silhouettes passing in front of the screen.
Felt appropriate to the true Grindhouse experience.

DEATHPROOF and PLANET TERROR are both slated for separate theatrical releases in the UK & Ireland - the Tarantino in September, and the Rodriguez in October. Personally, I can see DEATHPROOF getting a wider release than PLANET TERROR but then again, I didn't anticipate THE DEVIL'S REJECTS playing as many theatres as it did (Momentum are handling all of these pictures).

As I think we all can imagine, there will be at least half-a-dozen DVD releases of these titles as GRINDHOUSE, unrated, R-rated, extended, with scratches, without scratches...the film may have bombed at the US box office, but they are sure going to milk the DVD market for all its worth...

CORRECTION: I believe PLANET TERROR has a November UK/Ireland release date.

If initial DVDs sell well, I could see various special editions coming out down the road. But Grindhouse is still currently a financial failure. I'm hoping for a release of the US theatrical version, but not expecting it. Keep in mind, the reason that movies like Sin City came out in multiple editions is that they made money, not just because the directors asked for it.

They should actually turn the two GRINDHOUSE films into two new double features, pairing each with an actual original grindhouse film, e.g. PLANET TERROR and INVASION OF THE BEE GIRLS or DEATH PROOF and THE GREAT TEXAS DYNAMITE CHASE or MOONSHINE COUNTY EXPRESS.

It'll do just fine on home video. There's a vocal demand for all variants, and it will be met.

Not a bad idea but...no...

GRINDHOUSE is one film - not two - as many people seem to be locked onto including the Weinsteins...(even Tarantino bastardized the film by showing DEATH PROOF alone at Cannes)...and, yes, it was promoted as a double feature but its still ONE MOVIE...

Every segment in the film works together from PLANET TERROR and the trailers to DEATH PROOF as a cohesive whole...

It'd be almost like cutting PULP FICTION in two and reediting because you (ie the Weinsteins) can't figure out what's going on...so by severing it it becomes more...palatable?

I say leave the thing alone as a one film entity and let it go through a "discovery" period because I think GRINDHOUSE has the potential to turn into a major cult favorite...

Please put away the tomatoes but GRINDHOUSE was the best film I've seen all year...and those who missed it upon initial release in its original format truly missed something special that is sorely lacking in today's cinema...

Well said, Chris.

By the way, that 'discovery period' may have already begun. I noticed that GH has been playing for quite a few weeks already at a local 3-screen bargain theater (where movies go right after their first-run) close to the Farmer's Market in Los Angeles. That theater never keeps the same movie for very long, but GH seems to be a fixture there at this point. If it's still playing there in another few weeks, maybe I'll check it out to see if a larger cult fan base is growing.

Ah, the ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA conundrum.

You know, I don't really have that much of a problem with companies doing their best to milk a franchise dry with various releases. Sure, it's a little underhand, but after all, the most important thing to me is that I get what I want (good old capitalism)... but I just want to know when the hell I'll get to see the film that Tarantino and Rodriguez wanted me to see (and the one that really peaked my interest).

I've picked up a ticket for the UK premiere of DEATH PROOF at Edinburgh next month, but it's not the same, is it? Well, not unless Rosario Dawson and the rest of the gang are going to turn up and personally serve me in the bar afterwards, in which case I forgive them. But I don't think that's on the schedule.

The worst of this is that I happened to be on holiday in Canada earlier this year while GRINDHOUSE was playing and almost went to see it. However, since I'd gone mainly to go to a film festival, I decided my spare time should really be spent doing tourist things rather than watching more films, so I decided I'd wait and catch it when it came out over here. Great decision.

As impressed as I was by the CN Tower and Niagara Falls, maybe I chose wrong. It looks like I'll be seeing them again long before I see GRINDHOUSE.

On the other hand, I suppose it's only a movie.

Cover art for the standard 2-disc releases of each movie:



Best Buy is carrying them in metal tins, each with some sort of exclusive extra that's yet to be announced.

Here you go Chris:

http://z8.invisionfree.com/MHVF/index.php?showtopic=7505

Will the satirical trailers from GRINDHOUSE not be included on these DVDs? That would be a shame. I suppose they'll be kept for some future "special edition?"

:blink: He actually shot the rest of that scene?!?

If and when the unified GRINDHOUSE hits DVD, I hope that "HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN" is finally included.

Unless of course, those lucky Canucks get it on any of their editions of either individual film. ;)

what they should do is tack on the trailers at the end of each dvd (chopping off the credits) so that you can relive the experience (sort of) by throwing in the next dvd for a 2 disc double feature...

A rather large quote for this post - but the question begs:

Okay - those products in the photos look like they're sitting on somebody's home shelves...

Where's this stuff from?

The Weinstein Company's booth at the San Diego Comic Con.

Thanks, Ralph. ;)

I got some giggles by walking into their suite a few times during the VSDA (now EMA) convention. I loved hearing, "we really have nothing for you..."


marc

I am boycotting these separate releases. I understand they lost money but cutting the movie in half is insane. We showed Grindhouse at our theater a few weeks ago with Zoe Bell in person, and I can tell you that this film has lots of fans who would snap up a extras-packed DVD release.

I guess we just have to hope that the entire film will be released on DVD later in an attempt to milk more money out of the fans, but it's damned annoying to have to keep going through this charade.

Cinema Arts Centre

I'm with ya on the boycott. I picked up the GRINDHOUSE production book and both directors were adamant that these two films run together as a whole package (even though Tarantino showed DEATH PROOF alone...so I'm still having issues forgiving his back peddle on this).

Charade is dead-on but shenanigans is more like it.

I wonder if there's a way to start a true boycott for GRINDHOUSE fans that want the disc intact as it was shown during its two-week run...and if such action would even be effective.

BTW - the production book is excellent - great photos, the PLANET TERROR script, plenty of "how did they do it" info, interviews, etc. Probably will be the best supplement to this film. 30 bucks for the hardcover edtion at Borders.

Keep in mind you're probably boycotting yourselves out of the extras specific to these releases when they announce the 'Theatrical Experience' or whatever a few months down the road. I'm sure that will have entirely different supps, most likely focusing on the trailers...

From the IGN Entertainment web site:

SDCC: Grindhouse Gets Cut in Two
Separate DVD releases for Death Proof and Planet Terror
by Christopher Monfette

US, July 26, 2007 - The Weinstein Company and Genius Products announced today that the two films that made up the classically under-rated Grindhouse release will hit DVD on two separate, extended and unrated DVDs.

Quentin Tarantino's serial-killer homage to the old school car chase film, Death Proof will hit shelves with over 30 minutes of additional, never-before-seen footage including the maddening "missing reel" (containing the excised lapdance sequence) as well as a black and white segment in the film's second act. The DVD will hit on September 18, 2007 for a price of $29.95. Features will include:

Finding Quentin's Gals

The Guys of Death Proof

Kurt Russell as Stuntman Mike

Introducing Zoe Bell

Quentin's Greatest Collaborator: Editor Sally Menke

Double Dare trailer

International Poster Gallery

Meanwhile, the Robert Rodriguez zombie entry, Planet Terror, will attack with more footage, deleted scenes, a full commentary and the infamous missing reel. That disc will drop on October 16, 2007 for a price of $29.95 and its features will include:

Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Robert Rodriguez

International trailer

Deleted Scenes

Cooking School

10-Minute Film School

The Stunts

The Make-up and Effects

The Badass Babes

The Renegade Guys

The Costumes

The Production Design

We all know their splitting the film in two. Few confounding things:

1. DEATH PROOF is being released before PLANET TERROR, which f's with the time frame of the original film as released.

2. No mention of faux trailers at all not as part of the features, not as "special features" - so who knows if we'll be able to see these even though they were integral to GRINDHOUSE's original structure.

3. The outrageous $29.95 list price for - basically - a tuncated film chopped in half for separate releases.

4. "Missing reels" added or will they be separated from the film as part of "special features?" Let's hope they don't add them and these films are the theatrical versions.

I believe the missing reels will be included in the actual films, and that the films will be all cleaned up for these initial releases.

I think it's good news that the trailers aren't on these - that pretty much indicates that Weinstein is planning an eventual release of GRINDHOUSE in its original form. Otherwise, there would be no reason for them to leave the trailers off these initial releases. The trailers received more acclaim than either of the two films so I'm sure we'll see a proper GRINDHOUSE release down the line with all the trailers, scratches, missing reels, and jump-cuts.

Agreed on all counts.

I seriously doubt it... there's way too much narrative missing. The end of the sex scene, how the owner of the stripjoint gets back into the mix, El Ray's confession, the arrival of the Crazy Babysitter Twins, the attack on the BBQ joint, etc.

That was the whole point of the Missing Reel gag (in my opinion, the best gag in the entire feature). To shoot all that when it was (perhaps) only going to be used as a DVD extra would have been mad money silly.

Although that could be why Death Proof ended up being released first... all Tarantino had to do is splice in the lapdance scene (which only a fool wouldn't have shot), toss in some more nattering and the beast is back on the road.

But to realize that missing reel from Planet Terror, Rodriguez is probably sweating bullets right now putting together an extra twenty minutes that ties it all together without throwing off the pacing.

Hell, it's the best joke in movies so far this year. If I needed a clear indicator of the pointlessness of this split release, the killing of the missing reel gag is it. I'll rent 'em to check out the new versions and the extras (The Guys of Death Proof...uh, I'll pass on that one) but my spending money awaits the real Grindhouse DVD.

IF this is the case those boneheads at Weinstein really missed the point of GRINDHOUSE...

Missing reels, dirty pictures - that was all part of the film, part of the experience...but I think I'm preaching to the choir here...

Is there anybody here who wants to see GRINDHOUSE split, cleaned up and reedited with the "missing reels?" And without the trailers???

If so - why?

:o

Sure. As long as the GRINDHOUSE version still gets a release. Why? Novelty, mostly.

Matter of fact, if the only announced version had been the original GRINDHOUSE, I'd be patiently waiting for the separate releases as well - both Rodriguez and Tarantino talked up these 'restored, remastered' versions in the lead-up to the theatrical debut. They've always been part of the game-plan, but I think they would have come out second had GRINDHOUSE been a hit.

They would have been the double-dip that the theatrical will be now. And yeah, that's a little screwy.

Am I the only one who remembers this marketing approach being batted around when the movie opened theatrically? I distinctly remember reading here (or perhaps at HTF, but I'm nearly positive that I read it here) that a rumor was being floated around that the Weinsteins were eventually going to release the full GRINDHOUSE double-feature as a set, and also release faux-Criterion versions of the two films with "missing reels" re-inserted, the image "cleaned up" and "restored", and with extras devoted to each film. The only things that surprised me on reading this was that they're streeting the two films before the whole enchilada, and staggering the two discs' release.

I'm sure they got the point of the whole exercise... hell, that's sort of how they got their start (I'm sure a battered print of The Burning hung around 42nd Street for years).

But right now they're scrambling because a lot of money and hopes were pinned on Grindhouse. All it boils down to is that everyone involved overestimated the fanboy base for something like this, and that contemporary multiplex audiences are a little too middlebrow for the meta aspects of the experiment... hell, the Planet Terror missing reel gag probably pissed off three times as many people as the few who got the joke.

A theater cut of Grindhouse is inevitable, and all the preceding versions are teasers. The irritating part for me, though? That they'll go back and fill in the missing pieces... and still not bother tying up the Death Proof loose end involving Lee and the leering hillbilly.

That's what I'm referring to in the above.

I think that the non-performance of GRINDHOUSE has caused The Weinstein Company to rethink their approach - hedging every bet along the way in favor of extracting what they perceive as the 'easy money' first.

I think they're releasing separately, and staggered, to lengthen their profile on rentals/sales charts.

Yeah, but you posted while I was typing, you cheater. ;)

I'm not sure this is true. I don't know a single person who saw GRINDHOUSE who didn't like it, and many of them are not fanboys. The problem was getting people into the theater. Those who showed up inevitably loved it. So why didn't they go? I think we covered this in an earlier thread--substandard marketing and a rotten release date had a lot to do with it. I suspect the separate DVDs will do okay, but without the context of each other, the films probably don't play as well that way, which may lead viewers to think, "So what's the big deal? It's just another zombie flick."

I don't think the film was substandardly marketed; I think most people didn't find the idea as compelling as us cineastes; and while I liked it, as I've stated on this board, I found the feature DEATH PROOF script very compelling and will be glad to see it as a film. I have no doubt the Grindhouse experience as seen in the theatre will be available at some point, have no fear. And for that matter, I didn't go opening night, when one assumes the film was preaching to the converted. I went Tuesday night, and there were about 40 people in the theater; about 10 walked out well before it was over. How many of those who stayed still didn't really like it? I don't think this is a film that could've broken out, not at that length and with that subject matter.

I wonder what the Weinsteins expected. There's no way this was ever going to be a $100 million grosser. Outside of PULP FICTION, which was a true original that took Hollywood by storm, no R-rated Tarantino or Rodriguez picture has ever grossed that much. Granted, they could reasonably have expected to earn its $50 million production budget back, but they would have to be pretty stupid to think an R-rated three-hour exploitation picture without major stars (excepting Bruce Willis, who was in an unmarketed cameo, and Kurt Russell, who has never been a major box-office draw) was going to do any more than that. And I think it would have if the Weinsteins had made better decisions.

Three things I suspect hurt the box office. I think audiences may just be "zombied out" after so many damn zombie movies the past couple of years. And I wonder whether so much focus on Rose McGowan's machine-gun leg in the marketing caused people to think, "that's stupid." And, of course, an Easter weekend opening.

Exactly!

Why they'd release a truncated ("ehanced") version of a movie literally severed in two before the real thing makes no sense! Typically, reedited, enhanced - whatever you want to call it - versions of movies are released on disc after the original theatrical version hits DVD.

Taken out of context elicits a "so what" response because - as I've stated before - the film is GRINDHOUSE - not PLANET TERROR, not DEATH PROOF...

What irks me is that while Weinstein is faking enthusiasm for the upcoming, erroneous and misleading DVD releases (available, btw, at an outrageously high premium cost) - and while they feigned enthusiasm before GRINDHOUSE's original release - they didn't give the film a chance to grow at the box office. I think word of mouth may have kept it around longer than the three weeks it played...