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58-437: A grindhouse or action house is an American term for a theatre that mainly shows low-budget horror, splatter , and exploitation films for adults. According to historian David Church, this theater type was named after the "grind policy", a film-programming strategy dating back to the early 1920s which continuously showed films at cut-rate ticket prices that typically rose over the course of each day. This exhibition practice

116-417: A less-popular sequel . Another successful low-budget film was 2007's Paranormal Activity , with a budget of only $ 15,000, the film went on to gross more than $ 190 million. Possibly an even more successful low-budget film was the 1972 film Deep Throat which cost only $ 22,500 to produce, yet was rumored to have grossed over $ 600 million, though this figure is often disputed. Another film that not only had

174-426: A lower class audience, grindhouse theaters gradually became perceived as disreputable places that showed disreputable films, regardless of the variety of films – including subsequent-run Hollywood films – that were actually screened. Similar second-run screenings are held at discount theaters and neighborhood theatres ; the distinguishing characteristics of the "grindhouse" are its typical urban setting and

232-423: A 2007 horror film written and directed by Oren Peli, was made for $ 15,000 and grossing about $ 193,355,800 (adjusted by inflation: $ 274,603,025). Entertainment Weekly critic Owen Gleiberman gave Paranormal Activity an A− rating (A being the highest mark) and called it "frightening...freaky and terrifying" and said that " Paranormal Activity scrapes away 30 years of encrusted nightmare clichés." One Cut of

290-593: A budget of only $ 7,000. Also in 2004, the documentary Tarnation had a budget of $ 218.32, but grossed $ 1,200,000. In 2007 the Tribeca Film Festival premiered the first film shot in a cell phone. Dutch avant-garde filmmaker Cyrus Frisch shot the 70-minute film, titled Why Didn't Anybody Tell Me It Would Become This Bad in Afghanistan for only $ 200 on a Sharp 903 cell phone, with its built-in 3.2-megapixel camera. Paranormal Activity ,

348-400: A director and he has made several considerable higher budget films. In 1998, Christopher Nolan 's first film Following was filmed on a budget of £3,000. Nolan then received another £3,000 to "blow it up to 35mm". Primer is a 2004 American science fiction film written, directed and produced by Shane Carruth, a former mathematician and engineer, who also starred, and was completed on

406-404: A few years later. Since the mid-1990s, the block has again become home to mainstream theatres and several multi-screen mainstream movie theatres, along with shops, restaurants, hotels, and attractions such as Madame Tussauds wax museum and Ripley's Believe It or Not that draw millions to the city every year. This area is now co-signed as "New 42nd Street" to signify this change. In the 1990s,

464-634: A low-budget production, and it is relative to both genre and country. What might be a low-budget film in one country may be a big budget in another. Modern-day young filmmakers rely on film festivals for pre-promotion. They use this to gain acclaim and attention for their films, which often leads to a limited release in theatres. Films that acquire a cult following may be given a wide release . Low-budget films can be either professional productions or amateur . They are either shot using professional or consumer-grade equipment. Some genres are more conducive to low-budget filmmaking than others. Horror films are

522-547: A major return on its investment but also had a huge cultural impact was Mad Max . Mad Max was made for $ 200,000 USD but returned over 100 million USD. It also started off a major franchise that resulted in another 3 movies. Mad Max held the Guinness Book of Records record for most profitable movie for 20 years, eventually beaten by The Blair Witch Project. Rocky was shot on a budget of $ 1 million and eventually grossed $ 225 million worldwide, making Sylvester Stallone

580-560: A small amount of academic research has been conducted on the economic impact of low-budget feature-film production. Two studies conducted from a British perspective includes Steve Chibnall's Quota Quickies: The Birth of the British 'B' Film and JC Crissey 's doctoral thesis The UK low-budget film sector during the 'digital revolution' between 2000 and 2012: a quantitative assessment of its technological, economic and cultural characteristics . 42nd Street (Manhattan) 42nd Street

638-412: A star. Halloween was produced on a budget of $ 325,000 and grossed $ 70 million worldwide. Napoleon Dynamite cost less than $ 400,000 to make but its gross revenue was $ 46 million. Divisions of major film studios that specialize in such films, such as Fox Searchlight Pictures , Miramax , and New Line Cinema , have made the distribution of low budget films competitive. The UK film Monsters

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696-430: A very popular genre for low-budget directorial debuts . Jeremy Gardner, director of The Battery says that horror fans are more attracted to how the films affect them than seeing movie stars . This allows horror films to focus more on provoking a reaction than on expensive casting choices. Thriller films are also a popular choice for low-budget films, as they focus on narrative. Science fiction films , which were once

754-570: A viaduct to carry Tudor City Place over 42nd Street. Despite opposition from Tudor City residents, city officials said the street widening was necessary because 42nd Street already carried high amounts of vehicular traffic to and from the nearby FDR Drive . The New York City Planning Commission approved the plans in September 1948, and the Board of Estimate approved $ 1.848 million for the project that December. The board provisionally authorized

812-916: Is a major crosstown street in the New York City borough of Manhattan , spanning the entire breadth of Midtown Manhattan , from Turtle Bay at the East River , to Hell's Kitchen at the Hudson River on the West Side . The street has several major landmarks, including (from east to west) the headquarters of the United Nations , the Chrysler Building , Grand Central Terminal , the New York Public Library Main Branch , Times Square , and

870-404: Is a recent successful example of bringing what was once considered the exclusive preserve of the big studios—the expensive, special effects blockbuster—to independent, low-budget cinema. The film's budget was reported to be approximately $ 500,000, but it grossed $ 4,188,738 at the box office. A considerable number of low- and modest-budget films have been forgotten by their makers and fallen into

928-405: Is a unique system because of the uncertainty of demand. The makers of the film do not know how well the film they release will be received. They may predict a film will do very well and pay back the cost of production but only get a portion back. Or the opposite may happen where a project that few think will go far can bring in more profit than imaginable. A big gambling variable that is also involved

986-429: Is the use of stars. Frequently stars are brought on to a project to gain the film publicity and fame. This process can be profitable, but it is not a foolproof mechanism to successful funding. Well-known actors may join a low-budget film for a portion of the gross. Bruce Lee 's low-budget 1970s Hong Kong martial arts films were some of the most commercially successful and profitable films of all time. The Way of

1044-554: The American Civil War , and 57th Street , which became prominent in the 1890s. It was only after the beginning of the 20th century that the street saw entertainment venues being developed around Times Square and upscale office space around Grand Central Terminal. In the first two decades of the 20th century, eleven venues for legitimate theatre were built within one block of West 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues. The corner of 42nd Street and Broadway , at

1102-619: The East River to Queens . Each line stops at Times Square and Grand Central, though the Fifth Avenue station is also served by the 7 and <7> ​ trains. In the past, every former IRT elevated line had a station at 42nd Street: A fifth station extended over 42nd Street as a western spur from the Third Avenue Line to Grand Central Depot , later Grand Central Station, and finally Grand Central Terminal. MTA Regional Bus Operations 's M42 bus runs

1160-611: The Port Authority Bus Terminal . The street is known for its theaters , especially near the intersection with Broadway at Times Square , and as such is also the name of the region of the theater district (and, at times, the red-light district ) near that intersection. During the American Revolutionary War , a cornfield near 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue was where General George Washington angrily attempted to rally his troops after

1218-458: The greatest films of all time . All his other films that followed also had micro-budgets or low-budgets, with his most expensive films being The Adventures of Goopy and Bagha (1968) at Rs.   600,000 ($ 12,000) and Shatranj Ke Khilari (1977) at Rs.   2 million ($ 40,000). Another example would be the 1977 cult film Eraserhead , which cost only $ 10,000 to produce. Director David Lynch had so much trouble securing funds that

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1276-688: The public domain . This has been especially true of low-budget films made in the United States from 1923 to 1978 (films and other works made in the US during this period fell into public domain if their copyrights weren't renewed 28 years after the original production). Examples include a number of films made by Ed Wood or Roger Corman . Some low-budget films have failed miserably at the box office and been quickly forgotten, only to increase in popularity decades later. A number of cheaply made movies have attained cult-film status after being considered some of

1334-407: The 1960s, East 42nd Street between Park and Second Avenues contained more headquarters of industries than any other place in the United States except Chicago or Pittsburgh. During this time, there was much development outside the rundown entertainment district of Times Square, somewhat offsetting the perception of that part of 42nd Street. In the early 1990s, city government encouraged a cleanup of

1392-627: The 1970s, many of these theaters became venues for exploitation films , such as adult pornography and sleaze, or slasher horror, and dubbed martial arts films from Hong Kong . Films shot for and screened at grindhouses characteristically contain large amounts of sex, violence, or bizarre subject matter. One featured genre were "roughies" or sexploitation films , a mix of sex, violence and sadism . Quality varied, but low budget production values and poor print quality were common. Critical opinions varied regarding typical grindhouse fare, but many films acquired cult following and critical praise. By

1450-462: The British landing at Kip's Bay , which scattered many of the American militiamen. Washington's attempt put him in danger of being captured, and his officers had to persuade him to leave. The rout eventually subsided into an orderly retreat. John Jacob Astor purchased a 70-acre (28 ha) farm in 1803 that ran from 42nd Street to 46th Street west of Broadway to the Hudson River . The street

1508-676: The Dead (2017), a low-budget Japanese zombie comedy film, was produced on a budget of ¥ 3 million ($ 25,000) and went on to gross over ¥3.12 billion ( $ 28 million ) at the Japanese box office, where it made history by earning over a thousand times its budget. Johannes Grenzfurthner 's horror films Masking Threshold (2021) and Razzennest (2022) were both made for a budget of EUR 20,000. Both films premiered at Fantastic Fest and were well received. Grenzfurthner talks about his productions and financing in lectures and interviews. Only

1566-652: The Dragon (1972) grossed $ 85 million worldwide against a $ 130,000 budget (a 65,000% return on investment ), while Enter the Dragon ( 1973 ) grossed $ 265 million worldwide against a $ 850,000 budget (a 31,000% return on investment). Another example of a very successful low-budget Asian film from the same decade was the 1975 Bollywood " Dacoit Western " film Sholay , which cost ₹ 20 million ($ 400,000) to produce and grossed ₹3 billion ($ 67 million), making it Indian cinema 's highest-grossing film ever up until then. Wayne Wang 's film Chan Is Missing , set on

1624-553: The Times Square area. In 1990, the city government took over six of the historic theatres on the block of 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues , and New 42nd Street , a not-for-profit organization, was formed to oversee their renovation and reuse, as well as to construct new theatres and a rehearsal space. In 1993, Disney Theatrical Productions bought the New Amsterdam Theatre , which it renovated

1682-408: The actions of barkers exhorting potential patrons to enter the venue. Double, triple, and "all night" bills on a single admission charge often encouraged patrons to spend long periods of time in the theaters. The milieu was largely and faithfully captured at the time by Sleazoid Express , an exploitation aficionado magazine that ran in the 1980s,. Because grindhouse theaters were associated with

1740-552: The adult houses promenade down the block. ... Were you a freak? Not when you stepped onto the Deuce. Being a freak there would get you money, attention, entertainment, a starring part in a movie. Or maybe a robbery and a beating. For much of the mid and late 20th century, the area of 42nd Street near Times Square was home to activities often considered unsavory, including peep shows . East 42nd Street was, for some time, spared from similar decline, especially east of Third Avenue, where

1798-421: The city grid up to 42nd Street, which thus became – for a time – the northern boundary of the city. Cornelius Vanderbilt began the construction of Grand Central Depot in 1869 on 42nd Street at Fourth Avenue as the terminal for his Central, Hudson , Harlem and New Haven commuter rail lines, because city regulations required that trains be pulled by horse below 42nd Street. The Depot, which opened in 1871,

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1856-633: The development of the United Nations supported a thriving business district and prompted the widening of that section of 42nd Street. The demolition of the Second and Third Avenue elevated lines by the 1950s led to increased development on East 42nd Street, such as annexes to the Chrysler and Daily News Buildings, as well as the construction of the Socony–Mobil and Ford Foundation Buildings . By

1914-491: The domain of B movies , frequently require a big budget to accommodate their special effects, but low-cost do-it-yourself computer-generated imagery can make them affordable, especially when they focus on story and characterization. Plot devices like shooting as found footage can lower production costs, and scripts that rely on extended dialogue, such as Reservoir Dogs or Sex, Lies, and Videotape , can entertain audiences without many sets. The money flow in filmmaking

1972-512: The elevated IRT Second Avenue Line and IRT Third Avenue Line , and accordingly, initially considered unattractive for major development. By the 1920s, The New York Times reported that several high-rise developments were "radically changing the old-time conditions" along East 42nd Street, including the Chanin, Lincoln , Chrysler , and Daily News Buildings , as well as Tudor City . The block of 42nd Street between Second and First Avenues

2030-511: The film Lady of Burlesque (1943) one of the characters refers to one such burlesque theatre on 42nd Street as a "grindhouse," but Church points out the primary definition in the Oxford English Dictionary is for a movie theater distinguished by three criteria: Church states the first use of the term "grind house" was in a 1923 Variety article, which may have adopted the contemporary slang usage of "grind" to refer to

2088-622: The film had to be made over a six-year period, whenever Lynch could afford to shoot scenes. Slacker , a 1991 comedy-drama film written and directed by Richard Linklater , was produced for $ 23,000. The film was inducted into the National Film Registry in 2012. Influenced by the success of Slacker , Clerks was written and directed by Kevin Smith for $ 27,575 in 1994 which he paid for on his credit card and grossed $ 3.2 million in theatres. Clerks launched Smith's career as

2146-570: The late 1980s, 42nd Street, nicknamed the "Deuce", was the cultural center of American grindhouse theaters , which spawned an entire subculture. The book Sleazoid Express , a travelogue of the 42nd Street grindhouses and the films they showed, describes the unique blend of people who made up the theater-goers: depressives hiding from jobs, sexual obsessives, inner-city people seeking cheap diversions, teenagers skipping school, adventurous couples on dates, couples-chasers peeking on them, people getting high, homeless people sleeping, pickpockets... While

2204-540: The length of 42nd Street between the Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises ferry terminal on the Hudson River and the headquarters of the United Nations on the East River . Westbound service originates at First Avenue. Its predecessor, the 42nd Street Crosstown Line streetcar, had used 42nd Street until 1946. In 2019, bus lanes were installed along the length of the street. There have also been proposals for light rail on 42nd Street over

2262-452: The mainstream circuit with inexperienced or unknown filmmakers can also have low budgets. Many young or first-time filmmakers shoot low-budget films to prove their talent before working on larger productions. Most low-budget films that do not gain some form of attention or acclaim are never released in theatres and are often sent straight to retail due to their lack of marketability, look, narrative story, or premise . No precise number defines

2320-543: The mid 1980s, home video and cable movie channels threatened to render the grindhouse obsolete. By the end of the decade, these theaters had vanished from Los Angeles's Broadway and Hollywood Boulevard , New York City's Times Square and San Francisco's Market Street . Another example was the Jolar Theater in Nashville, Tennessee, on lower Broadway, which was active until it burned down on April 14, 1978. By

2378-422: The mid-1990s, these particular theaters had all but disappeared from the United States. Excerpts from Sleazoid Express were compiled into a book of the same title by authors Bill Landis and Michelle Clifford; the book discusses various exploitation subgenres as well as New York City's 42nd Street grindhouses themselves. Low-budget film Many independent films are made on low budgets, but films made on

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2436-521: The novel I Am Legend by Richard Matheson . Due to budgetary constraints, the vampires in the film were zombie-like creatures instead of fast and agile monsters portrayed in the novel. This approach (and film) was not considered a success at the time, but it inspired George A. Romero 's work in his film Night of the Living Dead . Thus, The Last Man on Earth became a precursor to numerous zombie films , and fans of those films later re-discovered

2494-402: The original, making it a cult classic. A micro budget film is that which is made on an extremely low budget, sometimes as little as a few thousand dollars. An example of such would be the popular 1992 film El Mariachi , in which the director Robert Rodriguez was unable to afford second takes due to the $ 7000 budget. Despite this, it was a success both critically and commercially, and started

2552-495: The programming of first-run films of low merit, not predominantly second-run films which had received wide releases. The introduction of television greatly eroded the audience for local and single-screen movie theaters, many of which were built during the cinema boom of the 1930s. In combination with urban decay after white flight out of older city areas in the mid to late 1960s, changing economics forced these theaters to either close or offer something that television could not. In

2610-765: The renovation of Bryant Park between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, as well as the renovations of Times Square and Grand Central Terminal, led to increases in office occupancy along both sections of 42nd Street. (from East to West): Every New York City Subway line that crosses 42nd Street has a stop on 42nd Street: There are two subway lines under 42nd Street. The 42nd Street Shuttle ( S train) runs under 42nd Street between Broadway/Seventh Avenue ( Times Square ) and Park Avenue ( Grand Central ). The IRT Flushing Line ( 7 and <7> ​ trains) curves from Eleventh Avenue to 41st Street, under which it runs until Fifth Avenue ; shifts to 42nd Street between Fifth and Madison Avenues ; and continues under

2668-804: The southeast corner of Times Square, is the eastern terminus of the Lincoln Highway , the first road across the United States , which was conceived and mapped in 1913. An elevated railroad line, running above East 42nd Street from Third Avenue to the Grand Central station , was closed in 1923, leading to the development of such structures as the Chanin Building and 110 East 42nd Street west of Lexington Avenue . The street east of Lexington Avenue continued to be made up of mostly low-rise buildings; these blocks were adjacent to

2726-445: The street outside the theatres was populated with: phony drug salesman ... low-level drug dealers, chain snatchers ... [j]unkies alone in their heroin/cocaine dreamworld ... predatory chickenhawks spying on underage trade looking for pickups ... male prostitutes of all ages ... [t]ranssexuals, hustlers, and closety gays with a fetishistic homo- or heterosexual itch to scratch ... It was common to see porn stars whose films were playing at

2784-565: The street widening in June 1949, and Manhattan's borough president announced in December 1949 that work would commence shortly. The neighboring stretch of 42nd Street was temporarily closed from February 1951 to October 1952 while the widening was underway. West 42nd Street, meanwhile, prospered as a theater and entertainment district until World War II . According to historian Robert A. M. Stern , West 42nd Street's decline started in 1946, when

2842-522: The streetcars on 42nd Street were replaced by less efficient buses. Lloyd Bacon and Busby Berkeley 's 1933 film musical 42nd Street , starring 30s heartthrobs Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler , displays the bawdy and colorful mixture of Broadway denizens and lowlifes in Manhattan during the Depression . In 1980, it was turned into a successful Broadway musical which ran until 1989, and which

2900-415: The streets of San Francisco's Chinatown, was made for $ 20,000 in 1982. San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen wrote that the budget would not have paid for the shoelaces in the film Annie . One of the most successful low-budget films was 1999's The Blair Witch Project . It had a budget of around $ 60,000 but grossed almost $ 250 million worldwide. It spawned books, a trilogy of video games, and

2958-399: The worst features ever made for many years. The most famous examples of this latter-day popularity of low-budget box-office failures include Plan 9 from Outer Space and Manos: The Hands of Fate . Additionally, some low-cost films that have had little (or modest) success upon their initial release have later been considered classics. The Last Man on Earth was the first adaptation of

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3016-570: The years, such as in 2005. 42nd Street is also used by the SIM8 , SIM22 , SIM25 , SIM26 and SIM30 Staten Island express buses. "Dorty-deuce" is street slang for Manhattan's former live peep show district on 42nd Street. The 1982 film Forty Deuce and the 2017 TV series The Deuce reference the phrase "forty-deuce". Notable CCP Politboro Standing Comittee member Wang Huning referenced 42nd Street in his book America Against America mentioning it's "pornographic culture" as an example of

3074-458: The young director's career. Some of the most critically acclaimed micro-budget films were by the Bengali film director Satyajit Ray , his most famous being The Apu Trilogy (1955–1959). The first film in the trilogy, Pather Panchali (1955), was produced on a shoestring budget of Rs.   200,000 ($ 3000) using an amateur cast and crew. The three films are now frequently listed among

3132-568: Was designated by the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 that established the Manhattan street grid as one of 15 crosstown (east-west) streets that would be 100 feet (30 m) in width, while other streets were designated as 60 feet (18 m) in width. In 1835, the city's Street Committee, after receiving numerous complaints about lack of access for development above 14th Street, decided to open up all lots which had already been plotted on

3190-584: Was markedly different from the era's more common practice of fewer shows per day and graduated pricing for different seating sections in large urban theatres, which were typically studio -owned. Due to these theaters' proximity to controversially sexualized forms of entertainment like burlesque , the term "grindhouse" has often been erroneously associated with burlesque theaters in urban entertainment areas such as 42nd Street in New York City, where bump and grind dancing and striptease were featured. In

3248-428: Was originally only 40 feet (12 m) wide, passing through a steep bluff known as Prospect Hill. On either side of the street, 30-foot-wide (9.1 m) service roads ascended to Tudor City Place, which crossed over 42nd Street. To improve access to the newly developed United Nations headquarters , in 1948, the city government proposed widening that block of 42nd Street, eliminating the service roads, and constructing

3306-478: Was replaced by Grand Central Terminal in 1913. Between the 1870s and 1890s, 42nd Street became the uptown boundary of the mainstream theatre district , which started around 23rd Street, as the entertainment district of the Tenderloin gradually moved northward. 42nd Street was developed relatively late compared to other crosstown thoroughfares such as 14th Street and 23rd Street , which had grown during

3364-576: Was revived for a four-year run in 2001. In the words of the Al Dubin and Harry Warren title song , on 42nd Street one could find: Little nifties from the Fifties, innocent and sweet, Sexy ladies from the Eighties who are indiscreet, They're side by side, they're glorified, Where the underworld can meet the elite Naughty, gawdy, bawdy, sporty, Forty-second Street! From the late 1950s until

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