Here we go, PopWatchers! This week's box office discussion topic: Grindhouse. The three-hour, R-rated Quentin Tarantino-Robert Rodriguez exploitation-flick homage way way way underperformed on its opening weekend, grossing just $11.6 mil. That weekend total was less than half of what most pundits were prognosticating. It was even smaller than the paltry $13.8 mil that that other big buzz ready made cult hit disappointment, Snakes on a Plane, earned in its debut last year, and it is probably the highest-profile flop of the wascally Weinstein brothers' celebrated career. Boy, as Mercedes McCambridge famously once said, "It burns! It burns!"

What the hell went wrong? Well, the blame game has credited the film's excessive length in limiting the number of shows per day and deterring some viewers, while some observers have speculated that maybe Easter weekend wasn't the best time to release an ultraviolent R-rated splatterfest. And Harvey Weinstein has gone on record saying that he regrets not having split up the movie's two halves into separate releases all along. EW.com alumna Justine Elias has suggested that the Grindhouse marketing campaign made a mistake when it created largely male-appeal ads ? a major lapse considering the badass heroines played by the likes of Rosario Dawson (pictured) and Rose McGowan that female viewers might have appreciated. And others have looked at the success of 300 and argued that studios certainly may deliberately make movies that are hardly highbrow as long as the films are shiny and cool-looking. Grindhouse, of course, is made in the style of cheap '70s crapola, and it looks it.

Sure, that's intentional, but I don't think the icky feeling now sweeping through the Weinstein Company was. After all, the movie got strong reviews and all sorts of press going into its premiere. The fledgling company admits to having spent upwards of $75 million to produce and market Grindhouse (and, of course, that's just the expenditures they're admitting to). But even if the film is split in two and given a special re-release of some sort down the line, as Harvey has said he's considering, it's got a long road to profitability. Consider: its level of violence means it can't be shown on regular TV, its fan base appears to be much more limited than those of Tarantino's or Rodriguez's previous films like Pulp Fiction and Sin City, and the summer movie season (with giant franchise pictures set to dominate every weekend) is almost here. In other words, Grindhouse's window of opportunity has all but closed.

Anyway, what's your take on all this? How could the Weinsteins have prevented such a debacle? Does this damage the former Miramaxers' reputation as a pair of execs who have the magic touch when it comes to churning out moneymakers? Do you think they can still salvage this film and steer it to profitability? Is Grindhouse's inevitable eventual status as a cult flick good enough?