Music

It’s Official: Metallica’s Through the Next 3D Movie is a Box Office Bomb

Well, they tried.  

There were festival screenings (including a big one at TIFF), plenty of media interviews (including CBS This Morning) and tons of coverage in print and online (including this site). And on top of it all, Through the Never is a pretty solid movie that looks and sounds great in a propter movie theatre. But it’s a bust.

Having sunk $18 million into its production, Metallica was hoping to at least break even.  The last figure I saw from this past weekend was a box office take of just $3 million.

So what happened?

1.  Bad timing.  They released a 3D IMAX film at the same time as Gravity, a giant box office hit that needed as many screens as it could get.  Which film got pushed out of those theatres?  Through the Never, of course.

2.  Maybe Metallica fans just won’t pay to see concert movies.  Metallica is something best experienced live and in person.  Even though the film is very good, Metallica fans aren’t like One Direction fans.  Their concert film has grossed more than $30 million so far.  Katy Perry’s concert movie has also done well.

3.  Confusing marketing.  Was this a concert film or something else?  Actually, it was both and neither. Maybe the message about how the film blended an actual concert with the narrative of the roadie’s adventure wasn’t clear.

4.  So it’s all bad news, then?  No.  The movie will continue to bring in revenue through DVD and pay-per-view.  The soundtrack is doing reasonably well.  It gave the band a huge amount of publicity while they’re in between albums (don’t expect anything until 2015).  And as an artistic statement, it was well done.  

And let’s face it.  Metallica is a giant financial enterprise.  Lars could cover the whole budget just by selling off a couple of his piece from his art collection.

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

Alan Cross has 38031 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

2 thoughts on “It’s Official: Metallica’s Through the Next 3D Movie is a Box Office Bomb

  • Those paintings Lars sold in their last movie are collectively worth more than $100million at auction I'd bet if not more. Less recognized pieces by Basquiat have gone for over $50 million alone. This being a rock star sounds expensive.

    Reply
  • It spent a week in IMAX locally, then a week on one screen throughout the city. And it is gone. 2 weeks in Nova Scotia.

    Reply

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