With Sin City 2 officially bombing this weekend (expected to land at $6-7mm for the weekend, not even in the top 5 grossing films at the Box Office); I thought it would interesting to look back at Robert Rodriguez life in cinema. While there have been shining moments in Rodriguez career – I personally have never been a big fan of his work. In fact, I paid attention to Rodriquez more so due to his relationship with Tarantino ... but looking back ... heres what I learned. Sin City (2005) ruled at the box office. It ended up making $74 million – a huge hit for such a niche story. So I can only assume the reason for the BIG decline is ... he just waited TOO long to make this sequel. The commercials never looked that good (for Sin City 2); and ... lets be real. Frank Miller killed his name after Spirit. Which is more shocking – Sin City 2 may actually open LESS than the Spirit did in 2008. HO-LY SHIT. So, once Rodriguez started making bigger budgeted movies – he did have some success. Desperado did $25mm in 1995 (maybe three times as much on home video). Soon after, he mirrored that success with From Dusk Till Dawn. His next Hollywood film, Faculty, did stunning numbers with $40mm in 1998 (again, all of which made a TON via home video). In 2001, however, it was game over thanks to Spy Kids. After that film pulled in $112mm at the box office, he was chained-down to a franchise that lasted 4 films and spawned Shark Boy & Lava Girl .... all of which did gangbusters. Then in 2003 Rodriguez released Once Upon a Time in Mexico. While the film well theatrically, I hated it. I thought it was a mess and it kinda signaled the direction Robert would take over the next decade. In 2007 he released Grindhouse, alongside Quentin Tarantino. I disliked Roberts segment, Planet Terror. The film managed $25mm at the box office, but it was considered a flop (it cost a whopping $67mm to make!!!!!). In 2010 Machete was released. A $25mm opening on an $11mm budget was good. But to keep this on a personal note - I saw this film at a drive-in (the ultimate mode for seeing a film like this) and I found myself giving up completely on the film mid-way through. I hated that I had to finish it to reach the second film in the double-feature. UGH! During this time, Rodriguez was also producing Predators for Fox. It ended up making $52mm, but the budget was $40mm – not the best turnaround, but it was a surprisingly good movie. For some reason Robert decides to make another Spy Kids movie in 2011. While it did nearly $40mm, it was a HUGE drop-off for a franchise that had averaged $100mm grosses. And then ........ Machete Kills. I have no idea what this film cost to produce, but it only culled $8mm at the box office during its entire run. I havent brought myself to watch this one ... mostly because how how much I disliked the first Machete. But .... So heres where were at. Grindhouse bombs. Predators does OK ... Machete sucks ... Spy Kids 2 drops significantly for the franchise. The Spirit bombs (Its not his, but he is still responsible IMO). ... Machete Kills bombs – and now Sin City 2 BOMBS ... Roberts films are iffy for me. I love From Dusk Till Dawn, but I never considered that HIS film. Faculty was fun. Sin City has amazing moments (and some snooze-worthy) ... Grindhouse was amazing in concept, but I just didnt like what Robert did with his segment. At the end of the day - I like Robert a lot more as a person that for his collective film works. Every time I met him he has been amazing. His new series on El Rey (Directors Chair) deserves awards for how awesome it is. In fact, I LOVE the El Rey channel. Kudos to him for that. But the question is .... with a downward slope of such a high level ... can he rebound?
Posted on: Sun, 24 Aug 2014 04:11:54 +0000
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