MovieChat Forums > Idle Hands (1999) Discussion > Wasn't this movie only in theatres for t...

Wasn't this movie only in theatres for two weeks?

posted 18 years ago by condking
11 replies | jump to latest

I remember seeing it in 1999 at the end of my Junior year. I wanted to make sure I saw it, so I went pretty soon after it came out. Very underrated movie.

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] pneesham 17 years ago

It did poorly in theaters because it was released right after the Columbine High School massacre oocured. Unfortuatly a teen oriented violent horror movie was unable to do well after that. Although to be fair, there was not a single charecter was killed by a gun in the movie.

[–] iandgls777 17 years ago

they did shoot the corpse of one of the stoners in the head

[–] dvdfreak66 17 years ago

Honestly even if it wasn't for Columbine, it probably wouldn't have lasted too long to begin with. It came out at the end of april, out which is right when the summer blockbuster season starts officially so smaller films like "Idle hands" seem to get left by the wayside. Not that i think it should have been dtv but honestly movies like IH do so much better in the dvd/home video market.

[–] Jordan_Haelend 17 years ago

"I think it barely made its budget back when it was pulled out of theaters."

Sorry, but according to the ImDB it never came close. It cost 20,000,000 and earned back less than 5,000,000.

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[–] TheBeardedWonder 16 years ago

Wow, I never knew it cost that much to make this movie, that seems crazy. Box office mojo has it at 25 million production budget, and making back 4.1 million. Such a shame, this is one of the funniest dark comedies out there, and a lot of people seem to like it for the comedy, yet nobody owns it, makes sense considering how much it's made back...

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[–] raggeddruid 16 years ago

It's made back its budget and then some from DVD sales and TV showings. Don't just go by the box office intake, especially for a relatively indie movie like this.

[–] zeta1983-1 15 years ago

I only first saw this recently. The theater by me only has 6 screens so movies rarely last more than a week or two and not all play there. I don't get how this could cost $20 million when District 9, a big FX movie was $30 million.

[–] jorgito2001 16 years ago

Regarding the "two weeks" comment...I think it depends on WHERE you live and how many theaters are around you.

I grew up in a place in Brooklyn where the closest theater onoy had 4 screens (the Multiplex was still a new concept)...I recall the remake of Night of the Living Dead being pulled after 1 or 2 weeks...and I really wanted to see it & didn't get too.

Now that we have theaters that have 20-24 screen in them, a movie lasting a week or two is a thing of the past.

And yes, its a shame Idle Hands was in & out...I honestly think its one of those "obscure" movies the majority of people won't "get"...I mean c'mon, a possessed hand, horror/comedy??? That's always a hard sell. Even the major studio backed third chapter in the infamous Evil Dead trilogy, Army Of Darkness didn't do too hot at the box office despite the strong following for the first two.

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[–] dvdfreak66 16 years ago

I know up until i was in the 7th grade the only theater within 30 miles from me was a little 4 screen theater. And unless it was a blockbuster it wasn't going to be there more than a week or two. Plus we wouldn't get films for a month after they came out which kinda sucked.
And i lasting only a week or two being a thing of the past isn't really true either. If it bombs or it isn't doing well in a certain geographic area then it will get pulled especially may to late august or mid-November to early January. It usually seems to be the low budget or indie films. Like in my area Choke was gone after two weeks which sucked since it is one of my favorite books and was looking forward to seeing it.

[–] ZeoRangerFive 15 years ago

I saw it the day it came out and it was weird because we were given cards after the movie had played asking about if we liked the movie and how likely we would to buy it IF it came out on DVD. It was weird because it was a general public screening it wasn't a preview screening or anything. I've never had that happen before or since.

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