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EXCLUSIVE: The auction ended late Friday night and I’ve been putting together what happened ever since. Certainly you’ll recall the big cool quotient around Machete, that famously fake trailer by Robert Rodriguez from Grindhouse. It was considered the single best thing about that Weinstein Co double-feature flop that also included Quentin Tarantino’s pic. Rodriguez’ fake trailer hinted at a good story (Mexican day laborer is set up, double-crossed, and left for dead — then starts everyone’s worst nightmare) and carried an even better catchphrase (“They just fucked with the wrong Mexican.”) Machete‘s YouTube video alone has 1.4 million views, which wasn’t lost on Hollywood. The result was 6 studios all very interested in domestic distribution rights to Rodriguez’ latest — Sony, Lionsgate, Warner Bros, Fox, Paramount, and The Weinstein Co.
Rodriguez had made the fake trailer into a real movie outside the studio system. With help from Rick Schwartz’s Overnight Productions, Rodriquez indie financed Machete with $20 million from selling international rights to Sony and making some other global sales and another $5 million he borrowed. Rodriguez not only wrote and produced the pic but he also co-directed it with Ethan Maniquis. It stars an eclectic cast to put it mildly of Robert De Niro, Lost‘s Michelle Rodriguez, Jessica Alba, Lindsay Lohan, and Danny Trejo. With the picture now in the editing room, Rodriguez and his longtime agent WME’s Robert Newman (who’s been there from the start of the writer-director’s career) decided to look for domestic distribution.
All six interested studios screened about 15 to 30 minutes of footage. Newman’s proposal was for $9 million upfront, no P&A commitment but the guarantee of a wide release, and a big backend gross participation for Rodriguez. (I’m told in the 10%-12% neighborhood.) Both Fox and Paramount said yes, and then, in an unusual move, Newman went back to the two studios and asked for more gross percentage and an overall production deal for Rodriguez.
Paramount balked, so did Fox. But Fox reminded everyone that it was already very much in the Robert Rodriguez business making Predators, and Tom Rothman really wanted him to have a home there, and Rodriguez and Rothman get along well, so a deal was clinched.
Which leads me to one of the most interesting aspects of this behind-the-scenes. Since The Weinstein Co had first-look on Machete, why didn’t it do the deal? After all, when Harvey and Bob started their successor company to Miramax, they did it on the back of their longtime relationships with Tarantino and Rodriguez. And they’re making Spy Kids 4 with Robert. “I really don’t know why. That’s for Harvey to answer,” one insider tells me. Rival studios are speculating TWC couldnt come up with the $9M. Yet a Weinstein Co insider claims it could have scooped up the pic for just $3.5M but didn’t because ”we saw the footage and it’s not very good at all.” Sounds like sour grapes amid the indie studio’s layoffs, pic pushbacks, money woes. (Weinstein Co Gets “New Lease On Life”?)
Well, that certainly makes it clear now more than ever that the Weinsteins wont be Rodriguez’ filmmaking base anymore. And that his new home of Fox just fucked with the right Mexican.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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The Thanksgiving trailer was the highlight of Grindhouse’s mock advertising for me. I hope Eli Roth gets around to making it at some point.
Thanksgiving is getting made as part of a two-feature package with Endangered Species, though Roth hasn’t announced who this deal is with yet.
clearly the Weinsteins have blamed RR for the failure of Grindhouse because they cant blame Tarantino, who has made good with inglorious basterds. Grindhouse was great and the guilt/blame for its financial failure should be spread evenly amongst everyone involved, creatives, studio, marketing, etc.
Actually, the least classiest blame game was Tarantino’s. He blamed the fans.
Well, if the fans didn’t go see it then, yes, it is their “fault” that it flopped.
If it was really “not very good at all” then Fox and Paramount wouldn’t have been interested. Me thinks the Weinstein Co probably just mucked up again and won’t admit it.
Whenever a Weinstein Company release or non-released/push backed film doesn’t do well, they say it’s because it was bad, terrible, awful, etc. As if something being bad is a reason not to release a movie when they’re pretty much all bad. Plus, the movies they DO release are poorly reviewed too, and they’re not marketed well as we all know. Even the Reader was the most poorly reviewed Best Picture nominee in a long, long time.
Have you seen a Fox or Paramount movie lately?
Sounds like the Weinsteins may have fucked with the wrong Mexican.
V
I think the answer lies on Rodgriguez’s end: Why would he want to go with TWC with “Machete” when they fared so poorly with the original “Grindhouse”? That project should’ve done much betterl–they fucked it up.
But say it was TWC who passed–even if they have the money (doubtful)–they don’t have much more than that. They have to be careful with their spending. Do you think they really want to focus the future of the company on something called “Machete”? Harvey certainly doesn’t, maybe Bob, but still. They’re being closely monitored by their board and investors–very hard to justify spending generously on a movie that’s related to “Grindhouse,” the failure of which has financially hamstrung them ever since its release.
Do you think they really want to focus the future of the company on something called “Machete”?
They should if it’s a good story. The title Machete represents cash. Just about every latino in the country may run to see this film.
Not if it’s in English, they won’t.
Look we have reams of data on what Latino movie-goers like. And its basically stuff in SPANISH done by MEXICAN film-makers IN MEXICO. Color this under “duh,” Mexicans like stuff from Mexico.
Spy Kids 4 may be dumb, but its hard not to make money on it. Because there are not that many kids movies.
Agreed with poster upthread, “Machete” would not make that much money. And TWC is cash-strapped. Grindhouse was going to be an obvious failure, anyone could see it, because the kind of audience that will see it is not that big.
@ whiskey –
Look we have reams of data on what Latino movie-goers like. And its basically stuff in SPANISH done by MEXICAN film-makers IN MEXICO. Color this under “duh,” Mexicans like stuff from Mexico.
seriously?!! ignorant baboso.
I’m not saying someone shouldn’t–someone will do well with it if it’s good–but not them. They don’t know how to reach that market. They need to go back to prestige pics they can market to a broad audience–that SOMEONE ELSE produces. That was their bread and butter. And their investors, who have them on a short leash now, know this. Nine was the right idea, the movie just sucked and cost too much. And someone else should’ve made it. Problem is ego–the Fat Man thinks he can make a great movie. He can’t. But he can market and publicize a great movie.
this is why I love this website, why don’t you tell me what you really think Ms. Finke. I know it’s none of my business, but I think it’s kinda really high school-ish to blow of robert like that coming from the Weinsteins’s company, they obviously OK’d that to go out. Nasty. Not in the good nasty way you are Ms. Finke.
this is why I love this website, why don’t you tell me what you really think Ms. Finke.
That IS what she thinks, you narrow-minded moron. That has been, and always will be, weak-ass sarcasm.
Of course the haters haven’t spouted off yet on here, apparently, but Rodriguez is the man. Kudos, hermano.
After getting burned badly on Grindhouse I’m not surprised the Weinsteins passed.
Rob Rod can do anything except come up with an original idea.
I am excited. Miss Lohan’s triumphal return to the big screen.
Finally!
Rodriguez has been shopping around for a home ever since the new Texas tax incentives went into place, with deals setup all around town. Red Sonja at Millennium, Predators at Fox, Nervewracker at Weinstein, etc.
It’s pretty obvious to me that things have gone sour between he and the Weinstein’s since their marketing department bungled Grindhouse, with his uber-politically correct statement “I owe the Weinsteins one more movie” made in every interview.
They couldn’t really afford to make movies with him anymore anyway, with Sin City 2 and Nervewracker falling through. I have no doubt that Spy Kids 4 became the last part of their deal because Disney would have no problem shouldering whatever part of the investment that was necessary to get it made. After all, the more they put in, the less the Weinsteins will get.
Now I just hope all these awesome sounding projects will finally get some traction, including the lesser known ones he’s been trying to produce for some time, like The Insiders and Madman.
This is also great news for Austin-ites, because this puts Rodriguez and Troublemaker Studios one step closer to having year round production/post-production work to offer. Woohoo!
Where’s the deal for Tarantino’s LATE SHIFT 2: JVC (jay v. conan)?
does anyone else smell Snakes on a Plane?
just because you can get a few titters with a fake trailer doesn’t mean anyone will queue up to see a high concept goof…it still has to sustain its own satire, and past the first act I don’t see it
As if the “problem” with GRINDHOUSE wasn’t always evident. Not a whole lot of people, outside of film geeks, give two CRAPS about “grindhouse” cinema. Who wants to see a movie that intentionally looks cheap? And on the business side, someone should have reminded the Weinsteins that those cheap-looking movies didn’t cost over $50 million. Was always a dumb idea – and the fake trailers are the best thing about it.
Prediction: Not a whole lot of people are going to care a whole lot about MACHETE either.
“Not a whole lot of people are going to care a whole lot about MACHETE either.”
You do realize this isn’t Grindhouse 2, right? This is a 90-minute action blaster, one the average redneck will enjoy whether or not they understand the concept. It will probably gross in one weekend what Grindhouse made in its entire run, and with one-third the budget! Don’t act like it’s already an in-ground flop when we don’t even have a release date.
Long after Rodriguez’s kind of crappy “Planet Terror” is forgotten, people will re-discover Tarantino’s “Death Proof” and see if for the gem that it is.
Thanks, but try again. Death Proof was CRAP, it had a few funny scenes and that’s it. Plant Terror was great horror.
Wha? “Death Proof” was retarded. Tarantino’s pretentious shtick has grown tiresome. “Kill Bill” was okay, but really he hasn’t done anything fun since “Jackie Brown.”
I agree re: “Death Proof” as genius. Some feel it is Tarantino’s best work. It was an art film and it will be taught in universities for centuries to come. The French understand this; the people who saw “Grindhouse” (i.e. slack-jawed morons) do not.
except…. when Tarantino did “Grindhouse” it felt like a pampered white dude who never had to work a day in his life other than in a video store (real manual labor there) looking down on people who sweated bullets to make a film on a shoestring budget.
Somehow, with Rodriguez, it seems more authentic (even if it isn’t) and frankly, the trailer is better at three minutes than ALL of Grindhouse.
It could become America’s next guilty pleasure like ParanormalActivities, especially if it’s ultra-violent.
It could become America’s next guilty pleasure like ParanormalActivities, especially if it’s ultra-violent.
Yeah except Paranormal Activity was shot on an actual low budget and was closer, sort of, to the grindhouse movies GRINDHOUSE claimed to be paying homage to.
I’ll check out Machete! And by the way, there’s a market for that B-movie type stuff, especially if it hits screens in the summer.
I love Robert Rodriguez movies, and most Terentino flicks as well. Truth be told though, Grindhouse was a pretty dumb idea from the get go. While i enjoyed the mock trailers and Planet Terror, putting two movies back to back was idiotic and the movies themselves were gimmicks. Don’t get me wrong i understood their purpose, but also knew kids wouldn’t be driving in flocks to see them in theaters. The same goes with machete. While im sure it will be thoroughly enjoyable, I don’t see it doing large numbers in the box office.
@Whiskey: “Not if it’s in English, they won’t. Look we have reams of data on what Latino movie-goers like. And its basically stuff in SPANISH done by MEXICAN film-makers IN MEXICO. Color this under “duh,” Mexicans like stuff from Mexico.”
Errr… not all LATINOS are MEXICANS, Senor Baboso. Statements like the above make you sound like a knot-headed racist.
As for Machete, I can’t wait to see it, and I’m not even Mexican!
Personally, I think that Grindhouse failed (and can a movie which has made money on video truly be decried as “failing”?) because of the running time and the film order — the average American isn’t down with a 4-hour movie experience, and at the 2 screenings I went to, I saw mobs of people leaving after the lackluster first feature — before even the hilarious fake trailers began, much less Tarantino’s awesome Death Proof. If those features had been reversed, I think it would have had much better word of mouth.
you should get a job at TWC where your terrible judgement can finish the job of bringing down the company
grindhouse failed because both features were badly paced masturbatory exercises, the satirical qualities of which were deeply buried underneath obsessive love of kitsch cinema…could have worked as a no budget indie, had no hope at all with these two self-indulgent directors driving the budget well beyond the pic’s niche audience
You know absolutely nothing about the true purpose of Grindhouse cinema. You suck and so does your opinion.
The only reason why GH flopped while TRSFRMS 2 made tons of cash is because the public have degraded into idiots that flock to explosions and stale, colorless humor.
Planet Terror was deliciously cheesy and tongue-in-cheek, like the trailers for GH cinema (which is what it represented), while Death Proof was like the true feature (meaning it didn’t have a lot of action set pieces, because GH cinema cannot afford it).
Honestly dude, are you 12?
watcher you are a pretentious fucktard. You will never get an agent.
Exploitation movies work because they cater to underrepresented audiences. Grindhouse failed because it was made for white male audiences 35 and under. Most movies are made for/are marketed to this audience. I knew grindhouse was dead when 1)kurt russell screamed like a girl and 2)when kurt russell cowered on the ground before a group of women. Machete has the specialness (or otherness) that exploitation film have but if it has no “good guys” that look like the target audience the film will do well in latin countries but will die quickly.
Sad part is your probably right. The feminist message of Death Proof might have been its downfall. If Russell had raped and mutilated the women at the end, the misogynistic troglodytes that make up the American moviegoing audience would have gotten off and recommended it to their friends. Sigh.
The single best thing about Grindhouse, was the “Hobo with a shotgun” trailer that played in Canada only – can’t wait to see that turned into a feature.
I think TWC is having buyers’ remorse in general. It seems like for every profitable movie they release (Basterds), they have 3 movies that flop. Their legacy outside of Miramax is getting crapped on, mostly by them, so they are trying to be more careful. They probably aren’t regretting staying away from anything “Grindhouse” related.
This script was horrible. It was being passed around to EVERYONE and was being sold as the best starting platform for new actresses. It didn’t take much reading and minimal intelligence to see the script had zero substance and never came close to meeting the hype it was delivered with. Love to know how many passed on it as well, for Lohan to finally be given a part. Rodriguez is an interesting swimmer in the Hollywood pool, and it’s always great to see diversity and a new perspective in film, but don’t get excited about this one, guys.
MACHETE has a $25 million budget?!?!?!?
This is the same reason the $50 million GRINDHOUSE bombed. It cost ten times what it should have. I was looking forward to MACHETE but it’s destined to go the way of GRINDHOUSE, a movie that cost a fortune to make look like shit. WTF?
That’s assuming that they’re even making it “grindhouse” style.