Drive Angry 3D Blows a Tire at the Box Office
Foywonder
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The R-rated shot-in-3D romp that sees Nic Cage as an escapee from hell trying to save a baby from rock-a-billy occultists, raising his own hell in a hot rod with a hot blonde, pursued by a hellish “accountant” determined to return him to his infernal punishment, only grossed a pitiful $5 million for the weekend, barely even making it across the finish line at 9th place.
The Oscar weekend box office according to Box Office Mojo was down all across the board – Gnomeo & Juliet of all films upticked into the #1 slot, but poor Drive Angry (review here) had no traction whatsoever and can now potentially lay claim to being the lowest opening for a 3D movie to date.
No doubt many questions will be asked in the wake of Drive Angry sputtering at the multiplex. Given the less than spectacular box office of Grindhouse, Piranha, and Machete, could it be that there just isn’t much of a market out there for these hard-R faux grindhouse genre films outside of the realm of DVD? Could it be another case like with Scott Pilgrim vs. the World where the film was just too high-concept for mainstream audiences’ tastes? Perhaps it just couldn’t pass the sniff test with the general public that views no distinction between a bad movie and a movie that is meant to be fun bad? Could poor marketing be to blame? Maybe even 3D fatigue? Or maybe, just maybe, Nicolas Cage’s name attached to a film has finally achieved the status of guaranteed box office poison?
One thing is for certain given Drive Angry‘s failure – right now the producers of Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance should be feeling awfully nervous.
Whether Drive Angry 3D‘s future is to achieve cult classic status or merely to flounder as yet another forgettable title relegated to the Wal-Mart $5 bin is a topic we’ll be tackling on the next Dinner For Fiends. Given the wildly differing opinions on the film even amongst the Dread Central staff, it should make for a spirited debate.
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