As documented by many websites other than ours, Metallica’s film Metallica Through the Never wasn’t exactly a box office smash. In fact, it made less than three times the $1.2 million that the 2004 documentary Some Kind of Monster grossed, despite the fact that it was in 3D and heavily promoted. We saw it when it came out, and were impressed by the sheer spectacle of it, saying at the time that the concert footage was “an even more intense view of a Metallica concert.” And if even a small number of the 16 million people that bought the Black Album made it out to a theater, it would have done pretty well. But in an interview with Stereogum, guitarist Kirk Hammett says that it’s the casual moviegoing public deciding not to see the film that led to it’s anemic $3.4 million haul:
Our fans definitely went to movie theaters and saw the film, but the people that we were counting on to buy movie tickets — which was your casual moviegoer — they weren’t as motivated to buy a ticket as our fans. For us, that was a big question mark. Why? We couldn’t figure it out. We know we made a great movie and we felt good about it, but now it’s time for us to move onto our next thing.
Hammett stands by the film, saying that he thought they made a great movie that “was exactly the way we envisioned it.” And with it coming out on video this coming Tuesday, it could reach a whole new audience, like the many people that don’t want to pay $18 to go see a Metallica film.
In other Metallica news, Hammett says that they’re working on their next album as of next week:
That’s going to start in a couple of weeks — actually, the week before the convention. We’re going to be working on the album. At one point, we’re going to be doing some touring. We’ll be doing a South American tour in March and probably a European tour in the summer. For the most part, though, we’ll be working on the album and that’s the main priority this year.
It’s no new news that Metallica was going to be working on a new album this year, but it’s exciting to know that they’ll be doing it this soon. Saying that the new album is the main priority this year could mean that they’ll be taking all year to record it. But it could mean that they’ll release it this year. It’s something we’re willing to stay tuned for.
