'Through The Never' Cost More Than Combined Budgets Of All METALLICA Records To Date

According to Box Office Mojo, METALLICA's new 3D IMAX concert movie, "Metallica Through The Never", has taken in just $3.4 million at the box office as of October 20. The film reportedly cost more than $20 million to make, with the band putting up most of the money for the project.

A recent video documenting the making of "Through The Never" showed Peter Mensch, one of METALLICA's managers at Q Prime, discussing with the band ways to save $2 million in order to get the film's budget down to $30 million, according to Bloomberg.com.

"It depends on what you count," METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich said. "Are you counting the promotion, the marketing, the live record, the stage that we'll continue to use in future tours? This is way north of eight figures. It's a lot for us."

Marc Reiter, who works for Q Prime, told METALLICA's fan club magazine So What! that the movie was the biggest single expense in the band's history, more than the combined budgets of all their records to date. Q Prime also invested an undisclosed amount in the film.

Ulrich told The Quietus that he is not ready to write the film off as a flop. He explained, "That remains to be seen! Ask me when I come back and talk about the new record two years from now . . . I'm sure that if we don't make all the money back, then, I don't know, (we will in) T-shirt sales seven years down the line."

Justin Bieber's "Never Say Never" is the highest-grossing concert movie ever with $73 million in the U.S., according to Box Office Mojo.

As previously reported, three different versions of "Metallica Through The Never" will be contained on the Blu-ray/DVD release of the film. In addition to the theatrical version, the disc will feature a separate cut of just the narrative portion of the film, which stars Dane DeHaan as a METALLICA roadie named Trip sent on a mission for the band in an increasingly dangerous urban landscape. The third cut will be just the footage of the band in concert, with three or four songs added that were not seen in the theatrical edition.

Trujillo told The Pulse Of Radio that director Nimród Antal was ready and willing to come up with a fictional story that would distinguish the movie from other concert films. "We interviewed quite a few directors, a lot of A-listers, and a lot of the directors thought we were crazy because it just was — it was a different approach to making a film," he said. "But Nimród literally, he was excited about the challenge and he went and prepared and wrote the thread basically, this storyline, and created the character Trip and this journey that could co-exist with the performance."

The standalone narrative footage from the movie will feature an all-new soundtrack composed by METALLICA and producer Greg Fidelman.

The package will also contain "'Tallica Parking Lot", an animated film created by Robert Trujillo and Titmouse Animation Studio.

A release date for the Blu-ray/DVD has yet to be announced.