Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS Is In Production!!

Aw, darn it all.  After getting all excited yesterday that Johnny has a track on the soundtrack, a friend pointed out to me that Sony's Austrian site indicates that his track is only 18 seconds long 

http://www.sonymusic.at/Various/Dark-Shadows/P/2662530

Oh well.  Long enough to be a guitar riff, I suppose.  Or it might even just be a little spoken word snippet.  We'll see!

the thing to remember in terms of a sequel is that the general public doesn't know who the heck quentin is...

so any of the "clues" that would be obvious to "us"...gramophones, ringing telephones...would mean nothing to a general audience. so they would not make an effective "cliffhanger".

since most of the audience is coming to this as a new story in order to generate excitement and suspense for another film a "cliffhanger" would have to reference the film they had just seen.

True.  But we do know that David is susceptible to the supernatural, so whatever cliffhanger they choose could tie into that.  It could be Quentin, his mother, any number of people.  Of course it could also have the do with Angelique, although I feel this movie will have dealt sufficiently with that material.   

We now have thirty people who are attending our DS film party on Saturday, May 12 (we intend to see a matinee to keep the cost down).  We're trying to figure out if we want to have a brunch before the movie (complete with candelabra with blue candles) before hand, or a dinner with the same afterwards.  Even my former most vociferous anti-DS friends are really into this (meaning they were former anti-DS, not former friends).  As I'm finding out, this movie is making once DS-hating people now very DS-loving people.

Gerard

Article about Elfman's score.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/danny-elfmans-dark-shadows-original-score-to-be-released-may-8-2012-04-17

anyways in terms of a "cliffhanger" it might be a moot point. if i recall the person here who actually saw the movie said there really isn't one.

onto another subject new york is literally PLASTERED with advertising for this thing in the last few days. it's everywhere. subways. billboards. buses.

everywhere you look there "they" are.

A TV Spots update: I heard that last night the 1st 30 second spot ran during Smash, and tonight it also ran during Dancing With The Stars - and tonight the 2nd 30 second spot ran during Glee. And probably not surprisingly, those are all shows that skew heavily female.

23 days 0 hours 43 minutes 35 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!

I don't know why anyone would think there might be - but we have the likes of E! Online to seek out the answer to the question anyway:

EXCLUSIVE!
Feud Alert? Twilight vs. Dark Shadows and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Talk about manufactured news. 

23 days 0 hours 14 minutes 7 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!

Since we have never seen it before I would love to see Barnabas have to deal with Laura. And considering Laura is truly one of the best written supernatural stories on the show I would love that.  I don't think Laura gets the applause she deserves; however, after finally getting to see the beginning shows about two years ago I was enamoured with how well this story was written from beginning to end.

I am so excited about DS.  I hope it has a huge opening and comes in #1.  Hopefully, the built in audience will help and hopefully more and more OS people are warming up to the idea of DS. They may say they are not going to see it but I have a feeling some are more curious than they would like to admit!

Barnabas and Laura is really where I'd liked to see this go as well... but I don't know if the writers allowed for a Phoenix story in the current set-up.

The most interesting tidbit is that Burton showed the cast two movies to establish the proper mood. The two flicks were The Legend of Hell House and Dracula '72. 

How interesting!  All this time, I'd been thinking that Victoria's clothing and overall look resembles that of Pamela Franklin's character from Hell House.  Maybe this is why.

Soundtrack announced...

http://filmmusicreporter.com/2012/04/16/dark-shadows-soundtrack-announced/

This list is  interesting too.  The movie I saw also included Elton John's "Crocodile Rock" and a song that I couldn't identify but sounded like it was Ozzy Osbourne; I wonder if these songs were dropped from the final cut or if it simply didn't make it onto the album for some reason. 

I've always loved "Nights in White Satin" and thought it was put to powerful, haunting good use in the film.

I haven't checked out the Ain't it Cool article yet, but will probably be back with more comments about it later.  I definitely agree that Michelle Pfeiffer's Elizabeth was a marvelous creation and the most redeeming thing about the movie.

Incidentally, I just love reading the speculation on this thread.  I'm impressed with how well some of the posters here have been able to anticipate the plot twists of the movie by scrutinizing the trailer, and I think some of you will be pleasantly surprised by how your wishes for the story come true.

ProfStokes

Thank you again for the amazing insight, ProfStokes.  I am so glad to hear that Elizabeth is redeeming.  She is one of my favorite characters from the original - if not my absolute favorite.  I was worried after seeing her with the gun!  Thank you for putting my mind at ease.  I trust your judgment implicitly. 

I have always loved Nights in White Satin, and I think it is going to work wonders here in the film.  I am glad you can confirm this.   

My only wish is that you could have provided us with a more positive initial response.  I have a question for you.  If you can't answer it, I understand.  If you had seen the film after having seen the trailer, would you have been more receptive to it?  I think a lot of us lowered expectations after seeing that trailer.  Having now seen and having coming to terms that this will have a lot of comedy, would you be pleasantly surprised by the final product or still as disappointed?   

...is it commonplace to save a set just in case there could possible be another movie? Or would they build the whole house over again??  Just curious.

According to Roger Corman, A.I.P. pulled out every baroque/gothic furnishing and prop they had for his first Poe picture, HOUSE OF USHER. They then stored them away, continued adding to the the collection, and pulled everything out for each subsequent entry in the series. As the Poe films progressed, the sets became more and more lush. Long time ago (nearly half a century!?). Who knows how things are done now in the studio system. Did they actually build a Collinwood for this thing or just a facade?

Thank you ProfStokes for your post. I look forward to your thoughts on the Aint It Cool review.

Re: Christopher Lee not playing Malloy. Perhaps that Spoiler Thread here may be worth another look?

Fandango had a poll of the anticipated summer movies of 2012 and DS was not in the men's top 5 but made the women's top 5. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/avengers-snow-white-dark-knight-fandango-summer-movie-survey-312606

Johnny Depp was The Most Anticipated Star:
http://www.fandango.com/moviephotos/summer2012smostanticipatedmovies_mostanticipatedmovieformenmarvelstheavengers_424_2

Fandango had a poll of the anticipated summer movies of 2012 and DS was not in the men's top 5 but made the women's top 5.

Back in December, Fandango had a poll for the most anticipated films for 2012:

From The Interesting But Hardly Surprising Department:

Apparently Fandango posted a survey asking their users what films they're most anticipating in 2012. They received thousands of responses (according to Deadline.com) and the sorted results by gender are as follows:

Men: 1. The Hobbit; 2. The Avengers; 3. The Dark Knight Rises; 4. The Bourne Legacy; 5. Men in Black III.

Women: 1. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2; 2. The Hunger Games; 3. The Hobbit; 4. Dark Shadows; 5. The Avengers.

Great to see DS on the list - though it's hardly surprising that it shows up on the women's list but not the men's. As I've said many times, the DS film is going to be something that will appeal primarily to women, and it's going to be harder to attract men to the film who aren't already Depp and/or DS fans. ...

And it's interesting to see how some of the titles in this newer summer poll have juggled around, while others have remained basically in the same order:

Men: 1. The Avengers; 2. The Dark Knight Rises; 3. The Bourne Legacy; 4. Men in Black 3; 5. Prometheus

Women: 1. Snow White and the Huntsman; 2. The Avengers; 3. Men in Black 3; 4. The Dark Knight Rises; 5. Dark Shadows

22 days 12 hours 54 minutes 45 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!