Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Momentum Open Up A Little About UK Grind House Release... At Last

Speaking to relatively minor minions at Momentum, I was assured twice that Grind House would be released as a double feature in the UK. According to The Times today, however, this may not be the case. It may, but it also may not. Here's the official line from Momentum:

We are reviewing the release date and the release plans in the UK. It will definitely be released here but we don’t know in what form.

So, the June 1st release seems to be off the calendar, at least. Worst case scenario? DVD only.

Going beyond the official statement, the article also quotes a journalist from Screen International who seems to have some inside info:

I can’t see them not releasing it but the size of the release will be interesting. The plan is to split it into two and hope that Cannes gives it a push. But they’re running into blockbuster season, have two films on their hands instead of one and no evidence that either is going to be more of a hit than the original.

If they know what they're doing, they'll get a decent mid-sized release out of the double bill. If that version is released to, say, smaller chains like City Screen - the pseudo-independent, pseudo-arthouse circuit - I think they'll do very well indeed. Maybe offering single features simultaneously at the multiplexes is an option?

I do think they may be keeping an eye on Death Proof's Cannes engagement, as the Screen International pundit said. If the film garners huge amounts of praise in a stand alone version, I think that will go someways to forcing a split. On the other hand, word from Cannes may be that the whole experience was missed, that the double feature release has something that the seperate films do not...

That makes sense with a release date roll-back, at least.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

After reading this, I went over to the Momentum site and noticed that the previously displayed '1st June' release date has certainly been dropped, replaced instead with 'coming soon' or something similar.

Strangely, the standard trailer is still on the site (promoting a double feature), but I can only imagine that a good reception at Cannes for Death Proof would actually sink plans to release the 'cut down' version of DP?

Personally I am really gutted about all of this - I was really looking forward to the whole Grindhouse experience; fake trailers, ads, two movies, etc. Maybe a UK release ahead of the US one would have helped it in the states? I seem to recall Res Dogs did much better here on initial release...