I've been sitting in the back seat watching the stories unfold regarding Lionsgate vs. Clive Barker about his film The Midnight Meat Train. We reported awhile back that the film was slated to open in limited theaters on August 1st, which is all fine and dandy, until I found out that the film is opening in dollar theaters... yeah, $1 theaters. "They're dumping it at mostly dollar theaters (the second run theaters, so it'll make even LESS money)," writes B-D reader Brian W. (one of a handful who wrote in). "It's playing at a Dollar Theater in Norwalk and Oklahoma and Idaho. Check MovieTickets.com if you don't believe me. " The question is, why does Lionsgate want the movie to make less money than it would normally in limited theaters? I'm going to investigate this further as something seems off. B-D readers are encouraged to report their findings below, good or bad. Note: Theater listings now inside...
Temeku Discount Cinema (Temecula,CA)
Cinemark Movies 10 (Cathedral City,CA)
La Mirada Dollar Movie 7 (La Mirada,CA)
Cinemark Movies 12 Lancaster (Lancaster,CA)
Bell Canyon Pavilions 8 (Phoenix,AZ)
Superstition Mall (Mesa,AZ)
Cinemark Movies 8 (Provo,UT)
Cinemark Valley Fair 9 (West Valley City,UT)
Cinemark Movies West 8 Cinema (Albuquerque,NM)
Cinemark Sugar House 10 (Salt Lake City,UT)
Cinemark Movies 8 Theatre (Albuquerque,NM)
East Pointe Movies 12 (El Paso,TX)
Cinemark Movies 12 (Springfield,OR)
Westgate Mall Cinema 6 (Amarillo,TX)
Gateway Movies 8 (Federal Way,WA)
Cinemark Movies 12 (Laredo,TX)
Cinemark Movies 16 (San Antonio,TX)
Northpark 7 (Oklahoma City,OK)
Robinson Crossing 8 (Norman,OK)
Crossroads Movies 8 (Oklahoma City,OK)
Cinemark Round Rock-Discount Movies 8 (Round Rock,TX)
Cinemark Movies 8 (North Richland Hills,TX)
Palace Theatre West (Wichita,KS)
Starplex Irving Cinema 10 (Irving,TX)
Movies 8 (Lewisville,TX)
From Clive Himself:
If you wish to see MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN in all its big screen glory at a THEATER near you, please do the following:
Cut and paste the message at the bottom of this post and e-mail it to:
1) investor relations at Lionsgate: keasterling@lionsgate.com
2) Lionsgate: general-inquiries@lionsgate.com
3) call Lionsgate at (310) 449-9200 and express your desire to see MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN get the release it deserves.
BE POLITE AND PROFESSIONAL! We do not want to piss them off, just want them to know how many fans out there would like to shell out their hard earned cash to see the most groundbreaking horror film of the past ten years in a real movie theater!
HERE'S A SAMPLE MESSAGE FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE (or feel free to compose your own):
Dear Lionsgate,
As a long time Clive Barker fan, I am writing you to express my strong desire to see "The Midnight Meat Train" on the big screen.
Rumors are currently circulating that the film will only be released on a limited basis and I am very concerned that I will miss my opportunity to see the most highly anticipated Clive Barker film in over a decade in all of its big screen glory!
There are millions of horror fans like myself who have been disappointed by the recent trend towards watered down PG-13 horror movies. Clive's work represents a return to serious, thought provoking horror movies and with Ryuhei Kitamura at the helm, I am even more excited to experience this collaboration, as it was intended: in a packed theater with hundreds of other horror fans like myself!
I urge you to please give this film the release it deserves!
I don´t really understand why Lionsgate is doing this to its film; since I saw the first trailer I´m amazed and I´m really looking foward to ir.
Sadly, I live in Argentina and if this problem with the limited release happens in USA, "Midnight Meat Train" is going straight to DVD here in my country.
Too bad!
I can confirm that it's opening at dollar theatres...and only dollar theatres in my area (NE). When I did an area search on Fandango, only one theatre came up. I was confused and thought it had to be a typo, but it's not.
A run down, rickety theatre that almost no one goes to is the only theatre for miles that is showing it. Very, very odd.
i'm "lucky"(if you can call it that!LOL), MMT is coming here to Seattle at (guess), our $2.00 cinema!! WTF!! Clive Barker (and the folks who made this movie!) deserve RESPECT, Lionsgate!!! as much as i'm excited to be going on Friday to see it, i'm saddened by the horrid treatment the this movie/Clive have received from LG.
Since everyone is so concerned about how much money a film makes, I should remind you that you are not limited to paying the price advertised. Most theaters, even the dollar ones, will gladly accept more. So, feel free to fork over $100 a ticket if it makes you feel better.
How dare they actually give the public a bargain! Flog them!
They're not giving the public a bargain... if they were doing it FOR the fans, then it would be pretty awesome, but there's a business purpose behind it that helps Lionsgate profit at the filmmakers expense. I might have discovered what is going on, trying to see if I can firm up everything before reporting. This is CRAZY.
It's not even playing all the dollar theaters... we have plenty of 2nd run theaters in LA, but the only place it's playing is in Norwalk, which is like an hours' drive east.
What a strange move. I'm not sure how the theater business works in terms of getting a film played in a particular place, but it seems like a bad business decision to dump it into discount theaters upon release. At least, on the upside, maybe this will encourage people to check it out since they don't have to pay 75 dollars a ticket.
This is fucking bullshit with a capitol B. The local theater ?I/ attend here in Brooklyn, NY, had a poster for this film and I was all geeked to see it. 2 weeks ago when I went to see The Dark Knight, the poster was gone and they told me at the box office that the movie was pulled at the last minute. Does anyone know if anyplace in NY City is getting this? I swear it seems like horror has been nil at the box office this year.
WHAT OMG that is retarted ive been waiting for this movie for like over a year. Now its not even going to come to our theater well i dont know if it would have come to our theater (a Galaxy theater in our small and crappy mall in St.Thomas Ontario). Are there even dollar theaters, i have never heard of those.
And this movie looks like it could bring in some big bucks to. I mean Vinnie Jones, Bradley Cooper, and Brooke Shields. COME ON
Its my understanding that Lionsgate was contractually obliged to release the film in 100 theaters. So those wacky executives decided to say fuck you to Clive Barker and his fans. The worst part is even if it was going into REAL theaters, they woukd probably mess with the numbers and call it a loss. I will write more about this in my blog later tonight
SD
That's ridiculous, this would have made like 18 million over teh weekend if it was well advertised. It would perform like Thestrangers, I would have imagined.
Lionsgate suck.
What the fuck?! They're doing this to The Midnight Meat Train, they're messing with REPO! too.. I guess we are all screwed =(
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