In 2006, John Penney's crime thriller Zyzzyx Road was named after the real street of the same name - a hidden path that stretches from Highway 15, halfway between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.The film stars Leo Grillo as Grant, an accountant with misbehavior. While enjoying a Las Vegas holiday, she accidentally encounters the sexy and seductive girl Marissa (played by Katherine Heigl, who was first showing off at the time).Marissa is dating Joey (Tom Sizemore), who is extremely jealous, and when Joey attacks the two of them with anger due to jealousy, he is knocked out of coma in the chaos.Grant mistakenly thought they had killed him, so he and Marissa decided to take the "corpse" to the desolate Zyzzyx Road desert to bury it.If we judged by the movie alone, the Mojave Desert seemed to have become a cemetery for countless people who were buried here due to their out of control of their vacation in the casino.
Zyzzyx Road also incorporates a hint of supernatural color.Marissa may not be an ordinary person, but a nightmare banshee disguised as a girl - but this suspicion may also be an hallucination after Grant's head was damaged.As the plot suggests, the film is extremely simple to produce, with a budget of only $1.2 million and was filmed in just ten days.Despite this, the crew insisted on heading to the real Zyzzyx Road filming.At that time, Heigl was quickly becoming popular with "Grey's Anatomy", and many people thought that her participation was enough to bring a considerable box office.
However, "Zyzzyx Road" ended up being notorious for a shocking report.In 2007, Entertainment Weekly disclosed that the film only earned only $20 during the release of the theaters - yes, it was not 20 million yuan, but 20 yuan.Only six people watched the movie, and the five-dollar lunch ticket price each made up this insignificant box office total.Director Penney even paid out of his own pocket for two tickets because the tickets were purchased by makeup artist Sheila Moore and his friends who wanted them to enter for free.As a result, "Zyzzyx Road" became one of the lowest-grossing major releases in history.
Entertainment Weekly's detailed and sharp description of the film reveals its birth process.It turned out that Grillo had been looking for people who would listen to him telling a crime story that took place in the Mojave Desert, and Penney happily embraced the idea.Previously, Penney has written several well-known horror scripts, such as "The Kindred", "Return of the Living Dead 3", and the thriller "Contaminated Man" starring William Hurt."Zyzzyx Road" is his directorial debut, and he knows it will be a small-cost attempt.
Although the shooting time is short, it is not calm.Tom Sizemore was on probation at the time and was banned from buying drugs for drug use, but was arrested again on the set.Penney knew the actor had legal problems and was suffering from drug addiction, but he still chose to give it a chance because he believed in Sizemore's talent.He believes in the actor's talent.Fortunately, local police allowed him to finish the shooting.In addition, the shooting site was also plagued by rattlesnakes, and Penney had to hire professional snake catchers to ensure safety.As for Heigl, although she played the role of a teenager, she was actually 28 years old at the time, she always actively cooperated.One scene asked her to fall on a rocky ground covered with cactus thorns in a high temperature as high as 43 degrees Celsius.She took photos ten times and never complained, just pulled out the pricks one by one with tape.
Zyzzyx Road is only released in the Highland Park Village Theater, a theater in Dallas, Texas.Penney rented the theater for seven days (the so-called "Four Wall Rental") and was screened once a day at noon.As mentioned, only six people came to watch the movie, including Sheila Moore, who was later refunded and her friends.
Perhaps some people may wonder: Why didn't this film choose to premiere in Los Angeles, or at least hold a slightly larger publicity event?The answer is actually very simple - to avoid paying the standard salary stipulated by the Actors Union of the United States (SAG).
According to Entertainment Weekly, actors can only get lower rewards if the film is never released in theaters.To circumvent this rule, Penney paid $1,000 out of his own pocket and rented a small Texas theater, completing a week-long release process.Even if no one watches it, the video must be screened as scheduled.In the end, six people arrived, but the film was still screened seven times as scheduled.According to Penney, he is not in a hurry to push for a large-scale release in North America, as he is still negotiating for international issuance rights.He successfully sold more than $300,000 in DVD copyright in Europe, and was excited and had no time to take into account the official release of the North American market.
Unfortunately, the news that the film only received $30 in the box office was first exposed by CHUD.com, and was later widely reprinted by authoritative media such as "Variety".This news undoubtedly brought the worst publicity effect to the already slim works.No one wants to touch a movie that is hailed as the "most miserable box office in history".
It was not until several years later that "Zyzzyx Road" was released in Europe as a DVD and gradually recovered its money.The DVD version of North America was launched in 2010, and the digital download version was launched in 2012.With its "legendary" low box office record, it is likely to break even now.Even if it is not profitable, the amount it loses cannot be compared with some Hollywood blockbusters that often lose hundreds of millions of dollars.For example, "Snow White" in 2025 may cost Disney hundreds of millions of funds.
