Release and Box Office Gross
Zyzzyx Road was shown once a day at noon for seven days (2/25–3/2, 2006) at Highland Park Village Theater in Dallas, Texas, a movie theater rented by the producers for $1,000. The limited release was deliberate: Grillo was uninterested in releasing the film domestically until it underwent foreign distribution, but needed to fulfill the U.S. release obligation required by the Screen Actors Guild for low-budget films (films with budgets less than $2.5 million that are not for the direct-to-video market).
The strategy had the side effect of making the film at the time the lowest-grossing film of all time, earning just $30 at the box office from six patrons. Unofficially, its opening weekend netted $20. The $10 difference is due to a personal refund by Grillo to makeup artist Sheila Moore, who had worked on the film, and her friend.
The similarly-named Zzyzx has also (mistakenly) been cited as the lowest-grossing film of all time, due to the similar titles and release dates of the films.
Read more about this topic: Zyzzyx Road
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