The film grossed only $331,000 opening up in 1,507 U.S. theaters this weekend, making it the worst premiere ever for a film opening in 1,500 locations or more, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com.
Putting that in perspective, $220 is about what one row of moviegoers spent on popcorn for the last "Harry Potter" movie.
The story of a swamp monster living in the Louisiana Bayou, "Creature" was produced for an undisclosed "microbudget" and self-distributed by Sid and Jon Sheinberg's Bubble Factory.
The film was promoted, but only to a point.
The producers say they made "significant" TV ad buys, buying spots on low-cost NBCU cable channels including SyFy, G4, and E!.
"We produced and self-distributed "Creature" with a great deal of enthusiasm and we knew we needed to be innovative and bold with our release plan," said Jon Sheinberg of Bubble Releasing, in statement shortly before the film's Friday release. "Hopefully we will pave the way for independent filmmakers to have a new template for indie films to be released on a national level."
