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from www.latimes.com – Despite boasting the provocative combination of Lindsay Lohan and a porn star, “The Canyons” failed to interest moviegoers this weekend.
At least that was the case at the one theater where the movie debuted, New York City’s IFC Center, which sold a paltry $15,200 worth of tickets to “The Canyons,” per distributor IFC Films.
Beginning Friday, the movie was also available for purchase via video-on-demand and iTunes, platforms on which the movie is performing “extremely well” so far, IFC said.
“[W]e believe that the film will do most of its business in the digital realm,” Sundance Selects/IFC Films president Jonathan Sehring said in a statement. (He did not return a request for further comment.)
That “The Canyons” did not do better at the IFC Center is somewhat surprising given the publicity the micro-budget film has received. In January, before the picture had secured distribution, the New York Times Magazine published an in-depth story detailing the production’s on-set troubles. Lohan, the child star turned jailbird, frequently showed up late and was so reluctant to strip naked for a contractually-obligated nude scene that director Paul Schrader took his own clothes off to make her feel comfortable.
Much of the film’s budget — $160,000 — was raised via Kickstarter, though Schrader, screenwriter Bret Easton Ellis and producer Braxton Pope each contributed $30,000 of their own money to the production. The movie stars well-known adult film star James Deen as Christian, a young man trying to make his own low-budget film. Unbeknown to Christian, his girlfriend (Lohan) is involved in a secret romance with the lead actor he has cast in his movie.
Though “The Canyons” was rejected at both the Sundance and South by Southwest film festivals, it landed a coveted spot — albeit out-of-competition — at the Venice Film Festival late this month. Lohan, meanwhile, just completed her most recent rehab stint and guest-hosted an episode of “Chelsea Lately.” The movie is also set to have a pool-side premiere at the Standard hotel in Los Angeles this week, so there’s a chance buzz could pick up as the film expands to theaters in 10 markets next weekend.