Want to see it in the theaters? The Clive Barker needs your help. Lion’s Gate is apparently only going to give what could finally be an awesome mainstream horror movie a limited 100 screen release and then dump it to DVD. Clive, and most fans(including me, I mean c’mon this is one of my favorite Books of Blood stories were taking about), are pissed. Barker released this open letter to the attendees of the recent Fango Weekend of Horrors:
“To be perfectly honest, I need your help…
There have been signs for a long while that Lionsgate, the company releasing the movie, was going to screw around with it. Release dates were changed and changed again. And my phone calls to the people at Lionsgate, asking for answers, were not returned. I was finally told that Lionsgate only planned to open the movie in a tiny number of theaters – somewhere between 100 and 300 – run it for a week, then put it on DVD.
“In other words, they were going to dump our movie…
“So… I’m fighting back.
“And I’m asking you now to fight with me.
“If you want to see The Midnight Meat Train on the big screen the way it should be seen, please contact Joe Drake at Lionsgate and tell him your feelings…”
In another interview on AMCTV.com, Barker lashes out at Lion’s Gate decision makers;
“My issue is with the control that individuals have in these cases – people with no interest in the movie as an artistic piece, with no concern for the care that was taken to put it on the screen… and who very often have only political motivations. They’re tossing this thing away as if it matters not at all to them. Usually those agendas are fiscal, and that’s what confuses me here. If they wind up putting this film on a hundred screens for a week, they’re leaving millions on the table.”
Barker goes on as true a horror movie fan as the rest of us saying that while, yeah a large audience will get to see the film on DVD it’s just not the same experience as a packed theater;
“The movie is fucking great, and it’s not right to stop horror fans who’ve been looking forward to seeing the picture from seeing it on the big screen. I’ve seen it with audiences, and they go nuts.”
Clive Barker’s website encourages fans to write and call Lion’s Gate to change their minds.
You can email this message:
As a long time Clive Barker fan, I am writing you to express my strong desire to see “The Midnight Meat Train†on the big screen.
Rumors are currently circulating that the film will only be released on a limited basis and I am very concerned that I will miss my opportunity to see the most highly anticipated Clive Barker film in over a decade in all of its big screen glory!
There are millions of horror fans like myself who have been disappointed by the recent trend towards watered down PG-13 horror movies. Clive’s work represents a return to serious, thought provoking horror movies and with Ryuhei Kitamura at the helm, I am even more excited to experience this collaboration as it was intended: in a packed theater with hundreds of other horror fans like myself!
I urge you to please give this film the release it deserves!
Many thanks,
to :
Joe Drake at Lionsgate: jdrake@lionsgate.com
Investor relations at Lionsgate: keasterling@lionsgate.com
Lionsgate: general-inquiries@lionsgate.com
Call the main office at (310) 449-9200 and express your desire to see MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN get the release it deserves.
Please be courteous in your requests.
