Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS Is In Release!!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

It would have been nice had they reported the latest updated worldwide gross. And I love how they make it seem as if DS was one of Depp's least successful films - but even subtracting its entire foreign gross, it's still among his Top 10 most successful in the US. But then, what else have we come to expect but inaccuracies and negative spin?    But be all that as it may, thanks so much for the link, jimbo. 

(And, yes, Littlefield definitely had the '91 DS in his site. However, it wasn't alone because he had several of former NBC president Brandon Tartikoff's pet projects in his site that year and canceled every one of them. Though, apparently, DS was the only show he came to regret cancelling. Not that that's much consolation.  )

The Depp/Burton Dark Shadows played in US theaters for at least 161 days/23 weeks!!

The Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is now out on DVD/Blu-ray!!

[jimbo]

I caught the writer's underreporting the film's box office success and that is unfortunate and inexcusable. My take was that he was aware of the perception out there that the movie wasn't a financial success so in that context it was a positive. It's hard to find a DS article without any inaccuracies and mispresentations.

To relive the 91 series' cancellation is bringing back some real bad memories. But it also brings back how hard we fought to keep the show on the air.

[jimbo]

According to this Forbes writer the 245 Million dollars earned at the box office did not cover the movie's production costs. http://www.forbes.com/sites/dorothypomerantz/2013/06/26/johnny-depp-and-britney-spears-fail-to-make-the-2013-celebrity-100/

[Mysterious Benefactor]

That Forbes writer has been making the rounds of the various entertainment shows for the last few days practically proclaiming the death of Depp's career. I began wondering which guesstimate she was using for DS, figuring she had to be using one of the biggest ones - and sure enough on one of the shows she proclaimed the budget for the film was $175 million, which is the biggest guesstimate there is on a legitimate Web site. So, sure, if she wants to use that one, there would be no way DS made back its money and turned a profit based on boxoffice alone because it would have had to have made like $430 million before that could have even begun to happen. But there is no way she can know for sure that that was the budget for the film because, as we've stressed time and again with these people, WB just isn't about to give out that figure and everything that's been reported from $100 million to $175 million are all guesstimates. Plus, I would believe Tim Burton when he says the film made a profit (no matter how small) before I would believe someone like the Forbes writer who obviously has an agenda with Depp and who apparently picked the guesstimate she thought would best prove her point. But then, so what else is new with some of these writers.

(Of course, we might also recall that Forbes gave the film a positively scathing review back in May of last year. To say it was excessively harsh and extremely vitriolic in its opinions of both Depp and Burton would be an understatement!)

The Depp/Burton Dark Shadows played in US theaters for at least 161 days/23 weeks!!

The Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is now out on DVD/Blu-ray!!

[jimbo]

Hi MB. I am a bit confused. If we used $150 million as the movie's budget, the movie would still have needed to gross over $400 million to break even and show a profit? I thought we had surmised that the movie did make a profit so I am thrown off by the $430 million figure.

In either event it would be nice if that writer disclosed her sources/data that she relied on to support her remarks.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

It's extremely likely that she has the exact same sources that we all have: the various guesstimates on Web sites like Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Box Office Mojo, etc. And as I've said in the past, when it comes to these articles, whether they be at Forbes, Entertainment Weekly, or dozens of other Web sites, it's so easy to pick the guesstimate that most serves the agenda the writer wants to put forth. (Remember how I mentioned last year that the people who wanted to claim Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance was a huge flop picked the high end guesstimates of its budget, and the ones who wanted to stress that it did indeed make a profit picked the guesstimates on the low end? So who was right? Who knows?) And like I've also said, secrecy rules at the studios. (Remember that vault buried miles under the earth with the topside moat filled with piranha?  ) People who work at the studios aren't slipping out the real budget/accounting figures for any film. If they were even suspected of doing so, they'd be kicked out on their asses faster than they knew what hit them.

As for the DS film, yes, more than one source has reported that the film made a profit. So it all depends on who you want to believe. Though at least when it comes to Burton as a source, he was presumably close enough to the film to know, unlike the people who are pulling guesstimates out of a hat and spinning whatever agenda they want to from there.

And as far as the profitability of any film goes, many use the 2X to 2.5X rule, meaning a film doesn't become profitable from box office alone until it's made back 2 to 2.5 times its budget. That's why I've been saying that for the DS film to have already been profitable when Burton said it was, the budget for the film has to have been much closer to the $100 million guesstimate than the $175 million one.

The Depp/Burton Dark Shadows played in US theaters for at least 161 days/23 weeks!!

The Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is now out on DVD/Blu-ray!!

[jimbo]

Thanks so much for the clarification MB. I think WB has been pretty silent in the media as to how it performed unlike Disney's John Carter where it told the media it had to write it off as a loss. As you said we may never know.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

There should probably be no doubt that the DS film became profitable - particularly once the worldwide DVD/Blu-ray sales/rentals and on demand figures were factored in. A film doesn't always become profitable by box office alone. But that sort of logic didn't fit in with the Forbes writer's agenda, so of course it's not touched upon. 

(As for John Carter, even its lowest budget guesstimates were huge, so there wasn't much Disney could do but admit they had to write it off because the fact that they did wasn't a secret to anyone.)

The Depp/Burton Dark Shadows played in US theaters for at least 161 days/23 weeks!!

The Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is now out on DVD/Blu-ray!!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I was just over on IMDb checking out the correct name for a character who's going to be featured in the 2012 DS Film Slideshow for July and I noticed that the film was nominated for three more related awards:

Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films Saturn Awards:
Best Performance by a Younger Actor/Actress: Chloë Grace Moretz
Best Production Design: Rick Heinrichs

Sadly, neither won - and in the case of Rick Heinrichs' production design, that's terrible a shame because his work on the film was truly magnificent! But of course, it was still fantastic to see that both Chloe Moretz and Heinrichs were nominated.

And:

BMI Film & TV Awards
Film Music: Danny Elfman

However, in this case, Elfman did indeed win! And that doesn't surprise me because his score for the film is wonderful. It's a CD that I often play whenever I'm in the mood for some DS music in the background while I'm working on the computer. In fact, in honor of his win, I'm playing it now. 

The Depp/Burton Dark Shadows played in US theaters for at least 161 days/23 weeks!!

The Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is now out on DVD/Blu-ray!!

[dom]

It never occurred to me until today that Stokes was't represented in the Shadows '12. I wonder why the omission? I guess he wasn't necessary as a character.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Wow, the Anti-Depp Critics Brigade has been out in full force when it comes to the reviews for The Lone Ranger. They make many of what I would have considered harsh reviews for DS look like they were actually favorable by comparison. But then, as many of us have said before, the Anti-Depp Critics Brigade isn't merely a joke (particularly when it comes to the online critics) - it's a fact - and those critics really do lay in wait for Depp's films just so they can rip them apart, whether their criticisms are fair or not. And it's really quite sad that these critics seemingly can't go into a Depp film with open minds as should be their attitudes.

The Depp/Burton Dark Shadows played in US theaters for at least 161 days/23 weeks!!

The Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is now out on DVD/Blu-ray!!

[Gothick]

I wonder whether American Film or Video Watchdog or something similar will ever do an article on the technical aspects of Depp Shadows.  I am really very curious about the process used for the realization of what we're seeing here.  The snapshots are underlying just how unusual the look is achieved by Burton in this one.  It often really does look like an animated painting.  I may have to get the DVD back from Netflix at some point to try to see if I can tell myself through the film just which sequences were done this way.  It seems as if the process was used in its fullest form for certain scenes.  HBC looks as if she wasn't just made up but CGI'd for her role in this, and if it was done for Alice Cooper, why not for others?  But this is a kind of CGI that's new to me.  Then again, I don't see very many current films...

I just may drop Tim Lucas a note and ask him about this...  Had it not been for the series of captures on display here, I would never have noticed this aspect of the movie.  It's intriguing me much more than anything to do with the actual content.

cheers, G.

[Cousin_Barnabas]

So... The Lone Ranger...  The weekend has only just started, yes?  And it's already "bombing."

All I can say is that it's good to know that any remake Depp is in apparently "bombs" and is "awful."  It's not just Depp Shadows.   

[joe integlia]

I saw Lone Ranger on Thursday. I enjoyed it very much. the stunts were incredible. there are sequences where Johnny Depp even resembles Jonathan Frid during certain sequences that I cant reveal without spoiling it. HBC looks like she went right from the DS movie to this without even changing her makeup or hairstyle!
I am shocked that this is bombing. I only wish Jerry Bruckhiemer directed the DS movie!

[B.Collins]

i've heard mixed things, that it was both good and bad. so i dunno i'll at some point watch it. i don't mind the original show from the 50's. and i never saw the apparent (1981) film. but i heard that was dreadful as well.