A Decade of Movies #35

Southland Tales
Directed by Richard Kelly
Released November 14, 2007 (May 21, 2006 Cannes Film Festival)

Another example of a brilliant new director having their second film be a huge flop, Richard Kelly's follow up to Donnie Darko was a disappointment on many levels. While it isn't a terrible film, it suffers from having an abstract and confusing plot magnified by the fact that the story relies on content outside of the movie:

Southland Tales was initially planned to be a nine-part "interactive experience", with the first six parts published in six 100-page graphic novels that would be released in a six-month period up to the film's release. The feature film comprises the final three parts of the experience. A website was also developed to intertwine with the graphic novels and the film itself. The idea of six graphic novels was later narrowed down to three. The novels were written by Kelly and illustrated by Brett Weldele.

Southland Tales grossed $275,380 in limited release at the North American box office, and $81,028 elsewhere, making a worldwide total of $356,408, falling far short of the film's $15–17 million budget. It should be noted that this was with the film playing on only 63 screens (a standard art house release is 300 screens).