METALLICA frontman James Hetfield has admitted that the band could not understand why its 2013 concert film, “Metallica Through The Never“, failed to connect with a wider audience.

“Metallica Through The Never” took in just $3.4 million at the U.S. box office in four weeks of release after costing more than $20 million to make, with the band putting up all the money for the project.

The band filmed the bulk of the movie at two concerts in Vancouver in the summer of 2012, using a $5 million stage show specially constructed for the production.

Speaking to the official METALLICA fan-club magazine So What!, Hetfield said: “It’s very bittersweet, the whole movie bit. We put a lot of money, time and effort into it, and how awesome we thought it was, and how ‘wow, this is pretty unique’ we felt about it, at the end of the day, was its downfall. It was not so much a concert film, not so much an action drama, it was somewhere in the middle; it just fell right down the crevasse. It disappeared. And it was sad to see that.”

Hetfield told So What! that he was initially angry over the fact that “Through The Never” turned out to be a commercial disappointment, with METALLICA absorbing most of the loss. “There was a time when I was just pissed,” he admitted. “Like, ‘What the fuck?’ That was stupid. I wanted to just point fingers everywhere. The distributor people. ‘They didn’t say what they were gonna do.’ Or just pointing at Hollywood in general. ‘They’re a bunch of grigging shysters, man. They sold us on something that they knew was bullshit.’ Blaming the director, the producer, the casting… And blaming the management. ‘You all fucked up, man.’ We really took a giant risk on this. Maybe we should’ve thought a little more about it. Building that stage — there was a lot of money put into that thing. But at the end of the day, it’s on us. It’s our fault! We agreed to it, and there you go. So we’ve learned a lesson.”

He added: “Things happen for a reason, and you might not see the silver lining right now, but down the line, who knows? Maybe the movie will make a mark in history somehow, or maybe we’ve basically learned: don’t do it again.”

(via Blabbermouth)