In
Hollywood, you win some and you lose some … and then you really lose some —
just ask everyone involved with "Storage 24." The British
sci-fi/horror flick grossed a less than whopping $72 at the U.S. box
office.
No, we didn't forget
any zeroes there.
Granted, "Storage
24" only played at one theater and only for one week, but something tells
us there was a probably a reason for that.
The story revolves
around a group of people trapped inside a London storage facility with "an
unwelcome guest." Dun dun dun. Meanwhile, outside of the unit, the entire
city is on lockdown because a military plane crashed and scattered classified
documents all over the streets … or something.
The independently
produced movie received a 22 percent audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes —
as rated by people who most likely saw it on DVD rather than the lonely few who
trekked to the theater — not the worst rating ever received. But earning less
in theaters than the cost of a new pair of sneakers is significant failure for
any film.
So how did this
ill-fated movie get started in the first place?
Like all movies start:
with an idea. More specifically, "Star Trek Into Darkness" alum Noel
Clarke was struck with inspiration.
"I
was literally at a storage facility with a family member walking around the
corridors thinking, 'This place is crazy,'" he explained to Movie Web.
"There's no windows. There are the same lights — and if you walk too far
and try to find your way back, you find yourself looking down a corridor and
going, 'Where is everyone?' I thought, 'Wouldn't it be crazy if there was a
serial killer that was killing people in one of these places?' One day I woke
up and I was like, 'Don't be ridiculous. A serial killer is ridiculous. An
alien would be better.'"
Clarke then co-wrote
the script, gave himself the starring role, and got Johannes Roberts to direct.
According to Clarke, it was Roberts who hired the rest of the cast, which
included Colin O'Donaoghue ("The Rite"), Antonia Campbell-Hughes
("Bright Star"), Laura Haddock ("Captain America" and
"The Inbetweeners Movie"), and a few others who are slightly more
obscure.
But it seemed that even
before the film's theatrical release in the United States, Clarke had some
sense that it might not be a hit.
"You take the film
for what it is. We had no money," Clarke told IndieWire before
adding, "Even if it doesn't do great in the U.S. ... we'll plot and plan
for the next one."
"A Perfect
Man" starring Liev Schreiber and Jean Tripplehorn was the second-lowest-grossing
film of the year, tallying a paltry $445, but since the budget for that project
was undoubtedly much larger than "Storage 24"'s, the biggest
box-office failure probably fared better (financially, at least) than the
runner-up.
Still, it would be nice
if Clarke's next effort can break sales into — at least — the triple digits.
Quoted from Elizabeth
Durand Streisand
