On a seperate note- anyone know what they are going to do with the trailers?

Reservoir Dogs got cult status in the UK because it laughably got banned. We like banned films- it makes us feel naughty when we get to see them.

SR was 1 month late- true, but it was so fucking shit that it could have stayed away forever.

With regards to little films, the film I am most excited about (fierce people- fucking loved the book and a friend of the wife's said the film is pretty bang on) is already on DVD in America and we haven't seen sight nor sound of it as Lionsgate are wankers.

Overall, there is no way in fuck I am paying the better part of £40 for me and the wife to see two versions of a film intended to be one. That is just fucking stupid, so I will either just wait for the DVD or sacrifice one of them. It is daft.

One of my earliest remembered cinema experiences was going with the family to see A disney film (Could have been Robin Hood- not sure) and then the incredible journey in the same fucking sitting. I was young, but managed to sit through the total run-time of both films without misbehaving.

this makes me sad.

Personally, I have no interest in this 'grindhouse' malarkey, so I don't care that they're 'ruining' Tarantino and Rodriguez's plastic recreation of a memory I don't have. I just like good films. If Planet Terror and Death Proof are any good, why should it matter that they have to stand on their own two feet?

Mind you, I suspect the reason so many people are annoyed about the split is that the gimmick is all this film really has to offer, which puts it somewhere in the artistic company of Jaws 3D.

Also, what the fuck? If I remember going to a run down cinema to see 2 films then surely there must be an audience for it. Why not limited release the proper version ON FUCKING TIME) and then do the split anyway?

anyway, unless judging by your handle your oirish anyway which is different to the UK.

What a shit summer, smoking in pubs banned, Transformers, Grindhouse being split and then indefinately postponed. What a load of crap.

P.S. Those of you willing to go the extra mile may like to encourage a filthy bum into your living room and encourage him to masturbate frantically under his overcoat while you sit back and enjoy the show.

Hey Franklin, I think I like the burning (is it the crappy Friday the 13th rip off with Holly Hunter)leave it alone.

I tend to download my movies, movies meant to watch on the big screen i watch at the cinenma ( like spiderman this thursday!!!!)

im not gonna bother watching this: at folks have righty said, spilting up the film to get more cash is ridiculous, brits have had enough being ripped off. prices in the cinema at leicester square are around the £10 mark. that $20 for one fricking movie? you must be joking! and thats just for the bloody ticket By the time it gets released, at the cinema, good quality torrents will be avaliable of the entire movie after the travesty of spilting up kill bill, we're not falling for it again

when will studios realise thats its a global economy, release the damm movies at roughly the same time. you'll get more money. This current strategy is complete bollocks.

The pirating pikeys in my neck of the woods have about a 1 in 3 hit rate on decent copies.

Opening every film everywhere all at once would put more pressure on them to perform on the opening weekend, and that situation is bad enough already.

Hey! Guess who's been reading Down And Dirty Movies lately? (Clue: It's me)

I honestly think that splitting it will lessen the overall take.

And what about the cash already wasted on marketing? I don't know, but as the release date was already set, don't they have to book screens in advance? do they not owe the likes of Odeon compensation for this?

Sure, it would be nice if they would honour the spirit of the film they originally made, but these are business guys and they saw a product they could easily split in half and therefore potentially double ticket sales. Maybe even more than double, because I'm sure there's plenty of people out there who were put off by the idea of a double bill and would rather see each film on its own.

Oh, dear. Listen to me, defending the coporate types. Clearly, I am getting old.

i agree that situation might have made sense in the past. but with ever changing technology, faster internet, the world is becoming a smaller place. When i was in australia 2 years ago i met this aussie bird in the bar who worked for a dvd company, and i (drunkly) bantered about downloading torrents and that if they released them at the same time, or at least sold them online they'd start making money. She said it was impossible. Six months later itunes started selling tv progs online.

By the time the studios decide on a strategy, it'll be too late, they've never been forward thinking at this "strategy" to spilt grindhouse into 2 movies proves it. Their focus like any business, the bottom line is profits, and they dont care about anything else. they dont care about the fans, they dont care about the movie goers, all they care is about the money. I totally understand this. The only way they'll sit up and notice is when you start attacking their bottom line.

dont watch the movie, or wait to buy it on dvd, or wait to watch it on a torrent. Once they start realising that folks do other things in their free time, they'll no longer able to afford to release movies via a staggered approach, they'll have to do it simulataniously

As an aside, Sky One ( part of the murdock empire)in the UK is a popular satelite channel, cause it plays programs such as lost and 24. Sky has tried to raise costs to Virgin media ( who pays for sky on cable)Virgin hasnt rolled over, and has stopped the channel and is going to court over this. You know what? know one cares, everyone downloads 24,lost, heroes, house. They're the most popular programs and people are going to get their hands on them immediately.All folks know how to ge them, its like a secret that everyone knows

God bless you Internet Pirates, It cause me much hilarity when watching MPAA and their adverts against piracy.

To the Weinstein's do you think we in the uk live on the otherside of the moon? Don't you think we hear the same info as the folks in the states. We know the movie has performed badly and we know it was two movies not one. Goodluck trying to pull the wool over movergoers eyes. But the British aren't sheep, and no we won't be faling for it

Now I am going to pluck a prediction out of the ether, but I bet they will shelve it.

Out of curiosity, could this decision have been made through pressure from the distributor, who is undoubtedly shitting himself after the US figures came in? Wouldn't surprise me.

2 other small curiosities about this- Firstly, how stupid do you have to be to work in marketing for a studio. Imagine you pay all this shit in advance (trailers, marketing, ad space etc) and then pull it altogether- lots of outgoings. No return. Stupid call.

Secondly, why, when the opportunity CLEARLY exists to do a limited run (just send a US print to selected British cinemas) and thereby satisfy a good chunk of the core fanbase (thereby hopefully re-establishing goodwill)would you not do it. At least that would give you some return for PT, and as the average person looking forward to Grindhouse is not the same audience as the British chav looking for A FUCKINNN GREATTTT Tarantino movie, not damage the autumn Death Proof Directors Cut release. In fact, as a promotional tool this may work as it could help to whet the appetite of people and hopefully spread some positive word of mouth about DP. Just an idea.

Not that the rest aren't useless

I agree with you about quality and reputation, but that is not how the average chav thinks. We need our friend from the estates to pitch up and confirm it one way or the other.

Also, regarding that Guardian article- it always makes me laugh that people have been murdering, torturing and raping each other for millenia, but cinema happens along in the 20th century so is clearly to blame for it. What a load of bollocks.

Even if it's shit, why would they shelve it? It can't be any worse than Next or Wild Hogs or any of the other shit that's around at the moment. At worst, I imagine they might chuck it straight to DVD.

I'm just throwing arguments out as well- but I honestly can see them shelving it- the lack of a release date makes me suspicious. Not that they give a fuck about release dates.

Don't they have to put a deposit down on screens they will be showing it on? do they lose this? just curious.

This has been a good talkback, by the way. Proper discussions and whatnot, and I don't think anyone has called anyone else a tard or a shitsucker or somesuch. Is it because we're English?

Blueboy- so close, except your self respecting chav nicks the player.

it's still poo.

Also that comparison at the end Baise-Moi to Grindhouse? that is fucking ridiculous. Am going to go and post to tell her what a tool she is.

Pissed off beyond belief over this.

It still shouldn't be split though.

There are only a few directors that are a draw- Spielberg, Cameron, Tarantino to name some, and Rodriguez at the moment is not one of them.

It smacks of exploitation, doesn't it.

I will if I manage it.

mind you, that was a long time ago.

I was trying to get at the limited marketing mentality that is unable to recognise when you should do something as it is the right thing to do, but this craven committe decision risk aversive shite can only categorise people into roughly hewn demographics.

The thinking that the problems with the film are the down to the run time is annoying me immensley. LOTR was about 3 hours per installment. How many people watched it multiple times? It is crap- but they will still blame any failure on ADD- not BAD MARKETING.

Just limited release it- it won't hurt your Directors cut release, and the PR bonus would be huge, not to mention the potential double dip (or even triple) dip for returning fans in september.

you cunt.

do fuck off.

sadly I suspect 5onthe5 is right about our lack of power. When he puts it like that it is a right catch 22. How depressing- and what a sign of the times that the excuses for failure are pre-prepared.

Seeing as you are clearly not responding to subtle hints:

FUCK OFF and troll anchorite. You know you want to. IS there any need to appear on a TB to make a complete fucking spectacle of yourself. You are behaving like a little retarded kid that runs up to his parents having smeared shit in his hair- "LOOK AT ME! Aren't I special!"- and the poor long suffering parents have to clear it up.

I already downloaded Grindhouse as soon as the opening weekend numbers were on boxofficeguru.com, as I knew splitting the films was the likely outcome. If anything it helped add to the experience as it wasn't a perfect copy and some dude's head was in the picture. I'll certainly buy it as a single DVD but The Whine-steins aren't getting any of my spondulics for half a movie!

The beef with empire dates back to the craven behaviour they showed over TPM and AOTC- it was pretty much the nadir of film journalism, and I don't want to go into it again. Basically- summer film in Empire= 3* minimum rating. This is not the way to review films.

since those low days their reviews have shown a massive inconsistency- for example, look at the Spiderman 3 review. They give it 3*- but the review itself is actually very negative. What the fuck is the point of having a star/ ratings system if you are going to systematically ignore it and publish crappy reviews with good-great ratings.

It just pisses me off, although to be fair, they often are good in the DVD section, and sometimes excellent with smaller films. It is as soon as the budget goes up then their integrity, standards, critical faculties all go out the window.

Christ is it really £12.50 in leicester square? the £9 in camden is bad enough.

The other nail in the coffin is that PT is being released later. This is the final deterrent for the sheep as when released the thinking (for most) will be "do I want to see Death Proof again. Erm, Grindhouse? what do you mean Grindhouse?It's that Tarantino movie innit? Fuck that. Saw it in September."

This whole mess pisses me off no end. Fuck the marketing suits- I hope they are stripped from their jobs and forced to find employment as performers in hard core corprophila fetish porn.

In the new edition (June 2007) there is a review of The Fountain in the DVD section that gives the film a one star rating, and trashes the previous cinema review, which gave the film a healthy four stars.

Just off the top of my head I can think of a few Empire ratings that are definately "off", Adam Smith being the most regular offender for me personally (Pearl Harbour, four stars (it's two at most), Vertical Limit, one star (a cheesy three for sure!)). But Total Film can be just as guilty (Halloween H20, five stars, recommending LL Cool J for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar, are you FUCKING KIDDING ME!?!)

But each to their own I suppose.

Dirk, I know it is subjective, but the point is the lack of consistency between the reviews and the rating. At least they didn't repeat their AOTC DVD review- they still gave it 4*- with the fountain, but that is my point- The fountain is a much smaller film so you only need a small pair of balls to smash it. AOTC is FUCKING STAR WARS- so you need king kong sized balls. They are playground bullies.

Other Empire howlers include: Giving The Ring 4* with the proviso that if you have seen the Japanese film knock 3 off. So is it a 4* film or a * film?- it can't be both. It is pretty endemic in British film journalism though.

rebeck, I'll sign your petition if you get one started to get Fierce People a UK release.