but here is some more "coppage".

http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2007-04-08-box-office-analysis_N.htm?csp=34

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By Scott Bowles, USA TODAY
It would have been difficult for Grindhouse to enter this weekend with more momentum and publicity.
The bloody homage to the exploitation flicks of the 1970s graced the covers of, among others, Entertainment Weekly and Rolling Stone. Directors Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez campaigned nationwide, working TV shows like presidential candidates. The film earned glowing reviews.


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So how did Grindhouse tank?

The movie took in $11.6 million, less than half of what was expected. It was considered a lock to be this weekend's No. 1, but it came nowhere close to Blades of Glory and Meet the Robinsons, two comedies already in their second week.

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"We expected to do $20 million," says Harvey Weinstein of the Weinstein Co., which released Grindhouse. "Obviously, there was resistance in some parts of the country."

That resistance may stem from what got the $53 million movie so much exposure in the first place. Studio executives and industry analysts say a few factors may have led to the disappointing opening:

•It's a double feature.Grindhouse is two movies in one: Rodriguez's zombie film Planet Terror and Tarantino's Death Proof. It also includes faux trailers, missing reels and scenes made to look spliced and worn. "You have to give them credit for trying something experimental," says 20th Century Fox's distribution executive Bert Livingston. "But that also carries some risk."

•It's long. At more than three hours, Grindhouse was going to test the patience of even diehard fans of the directors and genre. "Let's face it: Attention spans are a lot shorter," DreamWorks' Marvin Levy says. "Anything over 90 minutes, and people can start getting fidgety."

•It's a questionable genre. An homage to a beloved genre like the musical or Western is one thing. But grindhouse movies — whose plots often included women in prison, serial killers and karate brawls — were, for the most part, bad. "Ultimately, they're re-creating something known for niche audiences and for not being a hit at the box office," says Paul Dergarabedian of industry tracker Media By Numbers. "That can scare off a large portion of your audience."

Weinstein, though, is hardly folding the tent. The film played well on the coasts, he says, but weakly in the South and Midwest. He plans to develop new ad campaigns for those regions and send his stars and filmmakers there for more publicity.

And Weinstein says that because the movies will be released separately on DVD, "we need to change strategy and educate audiences that the Grindhouse experience will only be in theaters. It's too early to call the fate of this movie."

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