Lionsgate Dumps Midnight Meat Train In $1 Theaters

[Rene (Mr.Eko)]

The news from Bloody-Disgusting.

Originally Posted by Bloody-Disgusting

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!

Many thanks,
YOUR NAME

Just checked my local $1 theater (which isn't on the list), and we're getting it on Friday, so I'm definitely going to check it out. Same thing happened to Stallone's Eye See You. It got a limited release in the $1 theater here, and then got dumped on video. Damn shame that Lionsgate is doing this, but at least it's going to be on the big screen.

[Jakespeare]

Lionsgate just seems full of poor decision making lately.

Did you submit this?

[Rene (Mr.Eko)]

Should have thought of that. Didn't see a thread so I figured I'd post it.

Edited to add: Sent it as a scoop.

[Keith F]

Getting here in Indianapolis as well. Straight to second run theaters is a slap in the face, worse than dtv. On the other hand, I get to pay $1.50 for a new movie.

[Jake]

God, I hate Lionsgate. And they can kiss my ass if they think I'm going to go to Lancaster or fucking Temecula to see this. Ugh.

[BillyG]

A lady friend has been dying for this to come out for a while now, this is probably going to crush her. I don't even know where a single $1 theater is in the Houston area anymore. Really weird decision to dump it.

[Jake]

Five bucks says they come up with some lame explanation like "Oh we wanted to put it in cheap theaters to keep up with a grindhouse sensibility."

[BobClark]

Opens in Philly tomorrow.

[Saint G]

This is just shitty news. Not sure why they would do this. It just seems strange to send it straight to the cheap theaters. On the bright side its now ultra cheap to watch.

[Dross]

God, that's lame. Emails sent.

[Keith F]

I do find it amusing that it is apparently Clive himself who is calling it one of the most groundbreaking horror films in recent memory.

Look on the brightside folks, at least most of us will get to see it on the big screen, even if it is at the rundown dollar house that smells like feet that have been soaking in a Cleveland dumpster.

[BobClark]

Originally Posted by Keith Fordyce

...at the rundown dollar house that smells like feet that have been soaking in a Cleveland dumpster.

And is there really any better way to watch a movie called Midnight Meat Train?

[Keith F]

Originally Posted by BobClark

And is there really any better way to watch a movie called Midnight Meat Train?

Nope. Sunny side, indeed.

I guess I'm supposed to be up in arms about this news, but the trailers were playing last January, I honestly thought this thing was on video by now. I'm glad my broke ass only has to shell out less than two dollars for it. I can find that under the couch cushions.

[Ratty]

Ah, well. Looks like PPV for me!

[Trevor]

Watching a movie at the Albuquerque Cinemark is like watching a movie in a steamy, filthy slaughter house with lots of children screaming in Spanish. In other words, it might actually make Midnight Meat Train even more awesome!

[Brad Witzel]

Horrible news. The closest theater to me is an hour away, so any money saved on the cheap theater is blown away in gas. There's not anything playing in Chicago.

[DARKMITE8]

Used both email addresses to send a complaint, but got a "SMTP communication problem" with the investor relations one.

[Bradito]

Originally Posted by Jake

God, I hate Lionsgate. And they can kiss my ass if they think I'm going to go to Lancaster or fucking Temecula to see this. Ugh.

It's opening at the Nuart on August 15th.

[James May]

I think I'll just wait till dvd on this one.

[IggytheBorg]

No theatres in NYC (or anywhere on the East Coast, for that matter) are carrying this?

[Phil]

Where in Philly, Bob? Can't find it on RT or moviefone.

[Beautiful Nightmare]

OH MY GODS! It actually played at my local second run theater! What gives with LionsGate being so moronic about releasing this movie wide? It is by far one of the best horror movies I've seen in quite awhile. For a movie that nobody has actually heard a lot about, there was a fairly decent crowd in the theater---not nearly as big as some of the blockbusters out there by any means but still respectable for the amount of publicity it has received.

I made a very important decision after leaving the theater tonight, I REFUSE to see Saw 5 because this movie was treated so horribly. I don't think I'll have much problem sticking to that decision.

Is there anything else coming from LionsGate that I can boycott? Please tell me Mirrors is not being released by them.

[reggie-wanker]

Originally Posted by Beautiful Nightmare

Is there anything else coming from LionsGate that I can boycott?

www.lionsgate.com

PS - if you want to find any mention of MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN, you'll have to go to the Mandate International page (presumably for international sales); Lionsgate clearly wants nothing to do with this movie. Two days after the MEAT TRAIN leaves the station, and the main Lionsgate page rapes you with the DISASTER MOVIE trailer.

[The Perfect Weapon]

Originally Posted by IggytheBorg

No theatres in NYC (or anywhere on the East Coast, for that matter) are carrying this?

There's this IMDb page which has the list of locations where it's playing. It's nowhere in NYC or Philly, according to that list.

I'm not sure why it's not really in any East Coast theatres, or why in the blue fuck those dogfuckers at Lionsgate are treating this movie so poorly. No one seems to know for sure, or if someone does know, they're not willing (or able) to give an explanation.

This weekend, it didn't do too badly but then again there was a HUGE online push for people to buy as many tickets online as possible (even if there was no way for them to attend the film) in order to make Lionsgate look as stupid as possible; that story was posted on many of the horror websites and I think that's what a lot of horror fans ended up doing. Three cheers for them.

As for me, as it's in Orlando and I've fucking hated Lionsgate for a long while, I plan on seeing it this week.

[DARKMITE8]

Originally Posted by The Perfect Weapon

As for me, as it's in Orlando and I've fucking hated Lionsgate for a long while, I plan on seeing it this week.

Yeah, at the Colonial Promenade on 50. Not one of the nicer 2nd run theaters in the area, but it'll do. I wonder if they still have $.75 Tuesdays.

[Andrew C]

Anyone have any reviews of this thing?

Nick?

[The Perfect Weapon]

Originally Posted by DARKMITE8

Yeah, at the Colonial Promenade on 50. Not one of the nicer 2nd run theaters in the area, but it'll do. I wonder if they still have $.75 Tuesdays.

I don't think they do. Then again, I've never been to that theatre; knowing the neighborhood, though, I can only imagine what it's like there, both in ambiance and in clientele. I probably should sneak in a bottle of hooch to complete the mood!

To quote a Yahoo! review of that theatre, from a random user:

awesome city: this place is awesome! i saw garfield there and it was hilarious! its my favorite comic except for family circus, which is really cute. it only costs a litle bit to tget in so its cool! we made out in the back.

Yes, getting into the mood and getting ass by watching Garfield! That even beats the time last week when I walked into a theatre (as part of my job) and I saw a pair making out to Meet Dave.

Anyway, if you want an even cheaper theatre, I hear that the Picture Show at Altamonte (in Altamonte Springs) is the one that has 75 cent Tuesdays; otherwise they are 1.25 before 6 and 1.75 after 6. Now there's a great deal. It's second-run movies, but...

On a more serious note, I'll copy and paste what was said on the Dread Central boards about why Midnight Meat Train is being treated this way. I hope no one minds, as they are a website and board that's competitors to CHUD, but it at least helps to understand many things.

Nobodaddy says:

Peter Block was replaced by a new guy, Joe Drake. Block was a hard R guy and pushed Lionsgate in that direction. He was responsible for the horror stuff -- from giving the green light to Saw right down to acquiring Fido. Drake is dumping those projects and making way for the new initiative of turning Lionsgate into a "big studio". Meat Train couldn't become a DTV effort due to contractual obligations, so they're rushing it through the theatrical cycle as quickly as possible and trying to make as little as possible. They don't want a project associated with the old regime to be too successful, don't you know. That's how things work. Expect lots more Tyler Perry and very little blood from here on out from Lionsgate...

David then said:

Plus, I read that if MMT makes a certain amount of money at the box office they have to pay an additional distributor's fee to Lakeshore Entertainment, the studio that financially backed the film. So it's off to a few dollar theaters so that Lionsgate can fulfill the theatrical distribution contract the former president signed in the cheapest way possible. It would be noble if the new guy gave respect to the people that worked on the film, Lakeshore and the horror fans that wanted to see this movie, but that’s not going to happen. It's just a business decision to these people. There are several more horror films at Lionsgate that are going to get this same kick to the curb. Like Repo, The Burrowers and a few more I can't remember right now.

A real shame, if it's true.

As for the movie, I've heard other places say that it ranges from mediocre to awesome. At least it isn't bad.

[DARKMITE8]

Originally Posted by The Perfect Weapon

I don't think they do. Then again, I've never been to that theatre; knowing the neighborhood, though, I can only imagine what it's like there, both in ambiance and in clientele. I probably should sneak in a bottle of hooch to complete the mood!

Yeah, it can get a little scary in there (especially late nights), but it use to be pretty cheap (they had $.75 Tuesdays like Altamonte). It's in a strip mall that also has a library of all things.

Originally Posted by The Perfect Weapon

Anyway, if you want an even cheaper theatre, I hear that the Picture Show at Altamonte (in Altamonte Springs) is the one that has 75 cent Tuesdays; otherwise they are 1.25 before 6 and 1.75 after 6. Now there's a great deal. It's second-run movies, but...

I started going to that one more frequently. It's on 436, right off of I4. Much nicer place. One I wasn't afraid to bring my daughter to.

[InTheShadows]

Originally Posted by Beautiful Nightmare

OH MY GODS!

*sigh*

Originally Posted by Beautiful Nightmare

I made a very important decision after leaving the theater tonight, I REFUSE to see Saw 5 because this movie was treated so horribly. I don't think I'll have much problem sticking to that decision.

No offense or anything, but if any previous Saw movie doesn't stop you from seeing Saw V, then you have problems.

But hey, whatever works to keep people away from shit movies is fine by me.

[InTheShadows]

Also, if you are looking for more things to boycott:

FOX for cancelling Arrested Development

FOX for rushing X-Men 3 through production

FOX for dumping Idiocracy into a few theaters to watch it die a quick and painful death.

FOX for creating American Idol.

[Domingo]

Having Meet Dave, Space Chimps, The Happening, and The X Files as Fox's summer lineup?

[Dan Benenson]

Originally Posted by BobClark

Opens in Philly tomorrow.

what theater? I'd love to check this out and have had no luck finding somewhere to see it.

[Keith F]

This movie is on Fearnet already. With an introduction from Clive Barker nontheless.

And to think, I paid $1.50 to see it not even two months ago.

[Supremo]

Yeah, I was surprised to find this for free on FearNet already. I guess Lions Gate really doesn't want anyone to pay for this movie.

[Trevor]

Just FearNetted it. Wow, was that nothing to get excited about. It's not terrible - there's some gruesome stuff, and it looks pretty enough - but it's totally forgettable. The Horror-Fu showdown between the butcher and the photographer was goofy enough to be fun.

[IggytheBorg]

Fucked up as it is for Lionsgate to have handled this film the way they did, I am sure as shit gonna enjoy me some free Clive Barker film action soon as I can.

[Ratty]

I might check this out at the New Beverly in a couple of weeks when it's paired for a double feature with Candyman. I really loved the short story when I read it 20 something years ago.

[IggytheBorg]

We all did, which is why so many of us feel the way we do bout the shoddy handling its distributuion has been given.

[BubWilliams]

I couldn't find the movie on the FEARnet on demand channel, all that was on there were the behind the scenes features.

[S Nabors]

It's on there. I watched it yesterday. Not exactly a dud, but not as good as some of the early reports. It's worth a watch, though. Kitamura's matured a little but he still goes overstylish in some scenes where it isn't warranted. I'm still rooting for the guy to develop fully.

[BubWilliams]

Apparently it's only available on Comcast, which is kinda weird.

[Iron Maiden]

It was okay. I've never read the short story, so I can't really say how close it is to the original work.

It would figure that Hollywood has a semi-original, horror movie and they decide to hide it from anyone remotely interested.

[IggytheBorg]

Originally Posted by Iron Maiden

It was okay. I've never read the short story, so I can't really say how close it is to the original work.

It would figure that Hollywood has a semi-original, horror movie and they decide to hide it from anyone remotely interested.

Regarding the 1st half of this post: rectify that shit, post haste! The Books of Blood are awe inspiring at times. Must reads if you like horror at all.

With regards to the 2d half, sadly, QFT.

[Phil]

Originally Posted by BubWilliams

Apparently it's only available on Comcast, which is kinda weird.

It's a FearNet exclusive this second, I think, and FearNet is owned by Comcast.

[BubWilliams]

Yeah, but I got the FEARnet channel on Time Warner. So I find it weird one provider has it over the other, all I got regarding MMT are a bunch of behind the scenes featurettes.

[Phil]

Comcast leases a bunch of content to Cox and Time Warner. But there's probably a tier of exclusive stuff they keep to themselves. A random premiere like this might fall into that. No idea for sure, though.

[BubWilliams]

Makes sense.

I've always got the Edward Furlong vehicle Brainscan to look forward to.

[Jakespeare]

I liked it actually. The gore is poorly rendered (and was any of it practical?) but the gags are well done, the POV decapitation made me want to clap.

I liked the production design and the direction too. Yeah the acting wasn't anything special but at the end of the day I enjoyed it enough that I didn't notice.

[IggytheBorg]

I just saw this on FEARnet. I agree w/ jakespeare that the POV decap is a thing of beauty. That's one of the most innovative things I've seen in a long time, and captures pretty well something that's given me the creeps since I 1st learned of it in the 80's when I saw 'Wolfen" (i.e., that your head can live on for several minutes after being cut off, and how horrifying that must be). But beyond that, I don't find much to recommend in this film. I haven't read the story in years, but from what I do recall it's a fairly faithful adaptation, so there's that. But the DP should be bludgeoned with a maglite. There's a fine line between a film being shot in a DARK manner, and one that is so dark it's annoying. This film crossed that line. I continually found myself wondering what the hell I was looking at, because it's so Goddam dark you can't make heads or tails of what's going on. Maybe there's artistic merit to that (but that's what the CHARACTERS are seeing), but to me this is no more forgiveable, when it's done for so much of the film, than an overuse of the POV shaky cam we saw so much of after "28 Days Later". Remember how annoying that was? Same deal, IMO.

[Mattioli]

This, along with Dawn of the Dead and 28 Days Later, is playing a triple-bill at my local drive-in tonight. It's only supposed to be in the 40s at showtime, but I'm finding it hard to resist going.