Release
The film was promoted with a lengthy trailer in the Autumn of 1979, before the premiere in New York City in early December. The film was released nationally on December 23. The film grossed $13.2 million at the box office, proving popular with teen audiences. Initially, Compass International Pictures planned on a sequel (to be set in Mexico—Acapulco Roller Boogie); however, probably due to the end of the disco fad the idea was scrapped. Linda Blair, according to a Teen Beat article published in 1980, intended on moving away from the horror genre in favor of more light-hearted pictures such as Roller Boogie, but returned to the genre the following year in another Compass International Pictures produced movie, Hell Night (1981). Jim Bray did not appear in any other films after Roller Boogie, despite achieving something of pin-up status in teen magazines largely based on his appearance in the film. Stoney Jackson would appear in the third and final season of The White Shadow as Jesse B. Mitchell before its cancellation in 1981, and in Michael Jackson's pop video "Beat It", in 1983.
Recently, fashion brand American Apparel played the movie in store windows. Matthew Swenson, the company's fashion media director, stated; 'We became obsessed with that movie. On a whim, we also bought lamé fabric and turned them into leggings, and the gold and silver took off.". Despite a weighted average vote of 3.7 / 10 on the Internet Movie Database, the film has developed a loyal following and is seen as something of a time-capsule of the late 1970s and the disco era.
The film is considered a cult classic.
Read more about this topic: Roller Boogie
Famous quotes containing the word release:
“An inquiry about the attitude towards the release of so-called political prisoners. I should be very sorry to see the United States holding anyone in confinement on account of any opinion that that person might hold. It is a fundamental tenet of our institutions that people have a right to believe what they want to believe and hold such opinions as they want to hold without having to answer to anyone for their private opinion.”
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