Did you see DRIVE ANGRY (in 3D!)?  Probably not.  Turns out almost no one “turned out” for the cool car + sexygirl redneck revenge fantasy.  Box Office Mojo dissed it like this:

Drive Angry was the biggest loser this week, debuting all the way down in ninth place with just $6.9 million. That’s the worst nationwide opening in the modern 3D era and the lowest-grossing start for star Nicolas Cage since The Weather Man in 2005. When adjusting for ticket price inflation and 3D premiums, it’s essentially neck-and-neck with Racing with the Moon from 1984 as Cage’s least-attended start ever.

Here it is, months later Memorial Day weekend, and the movie has only grossed $10.7 million. The audience has spoken. How much of this blame shall we lay on director Patrick Lussier?  Take a look at the clip below, and then consider that he also wrote and edited the film.   I say it’s all on him.

Even though Lussier, a former TV editor (MacGuyver, really), also lost money on his first feature, DRACULA 2000 (which has only made $33 million to date over a $54 million production budget), in 2009 he scored with MY BLOOD VALENTINE  ($52 million on a $15 million budget). Maybe that’s why Dimension Films and The Weinstein Company are betting on him to bring it home next year with John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN III. But the dismal performance of the Nick Cage-starrer DRIVE ANGRY should rightfully make them nervous.

“Nothing says date movie like a 3D ride to Hell.” – closing words on the MY BLOODY VALENTINE trailer.   I think they got it backward:  nothing says ride to Hell like a 3D date movie.  Here’s Lussier’s hacked hits (and misses):