For the most part, we’re reasonable, rational folks here at Empire. Well, okay, maybe that’s not quite true, but still – we can at least accept that Grindhouse wasn’t going to topple the Will Ferrell / Jon Heder comedy Blades Of Glory from the top spot at the US box office over the weekend. We can even accept that, given its content (it’s easily an R under the American certification system) and running time (three hours, ten minutes), it stood a good chance of coming in behind the pre-programmed four-seat-at-a-time generic comedies Meet The Robinsons or Are We Done Yet?, but we weren’t expecting this. In a result that had us checking that hell’s thermostat wasn’t busted (how else would you explain the snow currently falling down there?), the Tarantino / Rodriguez double has come in behind all three, amassing just $11.6 million.
Don’t ask. We’re talking about one of the more mediocre animated features of the last three years, and a sequel to an Ice Cube comedy, the progenitor to which Empire gave a solitary star in its review. America, you should be ashamed. Take a good, hard look at yourselves. You can do things with your kids other than taking them to see bad family movies. After all, it only sets a bad example...
The rest of the chart was populated by The Reaping, 300, Wild Hogs, Shooter, TMNT, and Firehouse Dog (“Oh, look kids! A bad family film people didn’t go and see!”). Harvey Weinstein was understandably disappointed by Grindhouse’s debut, but is currently making adjustments to the marketing campaign. He's in for a tough time though, with seven new films slated for release this weekend – although none of them are particularly strong (potentially the biggest is the limp Halle Berry / Bruce Willis ‘thriller’ Perfect Stranger).