Grind
Release Date:
August 15, 2003
Three high-school friends decide to pursuer their dreams of joining the world of professional skateboarding by following their idol on tour and using their skating skills to get noticed and added to his team.
Yes, the amateurs-achieve-their-sports-dream genre is getting yet another treatment in this summer film focusing on the budding skateboarding circuit. Real-life pro skateboarders Bucky Lasek, Bob Burnquist, Pierre Luc Gagnon, Bam Margera, Preston Lacy, Ehren "Danger" McGhehey and Jason "Wee Man" Acuña make cameo appearances in the film. Even the film's title refers to a skateboarding term meaning scraping one or both sides of a skateboard against a curb, railing or other surface. The film will likely be rife with such insider lingo and filled with sequences where the skateboarding wannabes wow their idols and miraculously make the leap from amateur to pro.
The film's main box-office obstacle is the lack of name recognition of its stars, with the only recognizable name being Dave Foley, the former Kids in the Hall and NewsRadio star who appears as the road manager of the nascent skateboarders' idol. But this also works in the film's favor, since it likely didn't cost a whole lot to make, thus needing only moderate success to be considered successful in the studio's terms.
Summer seems to always bring at least one film about teenagers pursuing sports dreams against almost-overwhelming odds, and Grind certainly fits into this tradition. With a marketing campaign aimed at the right segment of the audience and maybe a few serendipitous tie-ins, Grind should enjoy a modicum of summer success. (Stephanie Star Smith/BOP)
Comparison films for Grind |
Title |
Date |
Opening |
Adjusted Opening |
Screens |
PSA |
Adj PSA |
Total BO |
Adjusted Total |
Mult |
Blue Crush |
8/16/02 | 14.17 |
14.73 |
3002 |
4720.00 |
4720.0 |
40.12 |
41.71 |
2.83 |
Extreme Ops |
11/29/02 | 2.23 |
2.31 |
1800 |
1241.00 |
1241.0 |
4.84 |
5.03 |
1.79 |
Airborne |
9/17/93 | 1.26 |
1.83 |
982 |
1283.00 |
1797.4 |
2.86 |
4.16 |
2.27 |
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