Tenacious D In The Pick Of Destiny Was A Box-Office Disaster That Became A Cult Classic
Jack Black has been in his fair share of hit movies over the years, from "School of Rock" to "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" and everything in between. The man has been a bonafide movie star for decades. But even the biggest stars have to suffer a misfire every once in a while and, for Black, one of his biggest misfires was also a very personal endeavor. 2006's "Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny" brought the rock duo of Jack Black and Kyle Gass (or JB and KG, if you will) to the big screen with initially disastrous results. Yet, time has been kind to the film as it has become a true cult favorite.
Black recently spoke about the film's legacy in the latest issue of Total Film magazine. The actor described "Pick of Destiny" as his baby. Not only because it's the only movie he wrote personally, but because it was based on an emotional truth, despite being conceptually over-the-top. It is, at its core, the story of how Tenacious D came to be:
"['The Pick of Destiny' is] my baby. The only one that I wrote. The challenge was figuring out how to take the magic of our live act, our little comedy rock'n'roll fever dream, and create a narrative that could be brought to the silver screen. We took years just thinking, 'What's it going to be?' We went through different writers, scenarios and stories, and nothing felt right. And then I realised: let's just tell the true story of our origins. We'll spruce it up, but at the core is an emotional truth."
Directed by Liam Lynch, the film centers on JB and KG, who meet and realize they are destined to combine their musical talents. Finding success elusive, they seek out the legendary Pick of Destiny (which possesses mystical powers capable of producing rock legends). The ensuing quest includes run-ins with the law, Sasquatch, and an eventual duel with the devil (played by rock legend Dave Grohl).
'It ended up still being our proudest moment'
New Line Cinema released "The Pick of Destiny" in theaters over Thanksgiving weekend in 2006. Amidst mixed reviews, the film was buried at the box office, failing to crack the top 10 in its debut. It topped out with less than $14 million worldwide against a $20 million budget, making it a sizable flop in its day. But, as Black pointed out in the same interview, the tide has very much turned in the years since the film's original release:
"Even though when it first came out it was a box-office disaster, it ended up still being our proudest moment and the pinnacle of our creativity. Over the years, it's become a hit and it's actually made all its money back. You can tell the extent of this because when we perform all around the world, everyone knows every word of every song in that movie.'"
Between home video sales and streaming/cable rights, it appears that the film has managed to get out of the red. Beyond that, as Black points out, the songs from the film's soundtrack became popular divorced of the movie, with fans loving the likes of "Master Exploder" and "Dude (I Totally Miss You)." It may not have been a hit, but the film has undoubtedly found its audience over the years.
Because of the film's failure initially, a sequel never materialized. However, Black and Gass did return with another project in 2018 in the form of "Tenacious D in Post-Apocalypto." The hand-drawn series was released by the band directly on YouTube spanning six episodes, which essentially equated to a feature-length project when stitched together. An album of songs from the animated series was also released.