10 Horror Movies You Didn't Realise Secretly Bombed

Budget: Death Proof $30 million / Planet Terror $23 million

Box Office: Death Proof $31.1 million / Planet Terror $11 million

Although grindhouse features fell into obscurity during the 1980s, Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez were eager to collaborate on a project that served as a throwback to these films. After some brainstorming, they decided to release two grindhouse movies back-to-back - Tarantino's Death Proof and Rodriguez's Planet Terror.

Collectively titled as Grindhouse, moviegoers were ecstatic to see this lost form of cinema making a comeback when this venture was announced. Because of the media buzz, analysts assumed Grindhouse would rake up to $30 million in its opening weekend.

Disappointedly, Death Proof and Planet Terror didn't earn even half of their projections. Although Grindhouse was expected to dominate in the US, it only made $4,417 on average per theatre.

How could this be? Well, the 3+ hours run-time limited the double-feature's screenings and dissuaded casual viewers. Also, Grindhouse was released during Easter - a period associated with family-friendly features, not exploitation horror.

Desperate to salvage this failure, the producers had Grindhouse cut into two separate features for its international release. By this point, the hype had dried up, causing both films to make a pittance at the box office.