Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS Is In Release!!

[Nicky]

Amazon has an image for the Dark Shadows Art of the Film book (which, according to the photo, is actually called the Dark Shadows Visual Guide).  It also contains a foreward by Tim Burton.  Expensive, but I really want one ...

http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Shadows-Art-Film/dp/1781162557/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338614229&sr=8-1

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Thanks for the update, Nicky. 

22 days 11 hours 7 minutes 40 seconds since the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows has been in release(ET)!!

[jimbo]

Thanks too Nicky for the update.
Friday estimates show DS earning 1 million which is what had been projected more or less. http://www.deadline.com/2012/06/snow-white-and-the-huntsman-opens-to-1-383m-midnights-from-1092-theaters-better-than-mib3/

[madscntst]

With the Friday estimate, DS has now surpassed The Tourist's domestic box office.  By the early next week, it should pass Chocolat to enter Johnny's Top Ten films in terms of domestic box office (not including cameos).  Remember, too, that 4 of those Top Ten films are Pirates movies, which kind of skew everything.

By the way, I was noticing that one of the two IMAX's in the DC area that are still showing DS, at the National Museum of Natural History, has now committed to showing DS through June 21.  So even if it may get hard to find on IMAX, it's not totally disappearing from IMAX for another 3 weeks.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

May 31st was the last day DS played in the IMAX theater where I saw it. However, the two other IMAX theaters where it was playing in my vicinity (well, between 30 and 40 miles away) are still showing it - and they're both still showing it four times a day. So, yes, it's still possible to see DS in IMAX in some parts of the country if you're willing to track it down and drive a bit farther than you might otherwise. Though as far as I'm concerned, seeing DS in IMAX was well worth it.    In fact, I'd love to see DS in IMAX again, but I don't know if I'm going to be able to find the time.

And thanks for the link to that Friday estimate, jimbo. 

22 days 12 hours 27 minutes 55 seconds since the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows has been in release(ET)!!

[madscntst]

This is probably (but not necessarily) off topic-- Johnny Depp will be the recipient of the MTV Generation Award, which will be presented tomorrow night at the MTV Movie Awards.  I believe he is expected to attend, and Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith will present the award.  I'm hoping that there will be a DS pitch and some film clips or something.

I groaned when I found out that it's airing tomorrow night at 9, because that is the same time as the Game Of Thrones season finale.  Argh!  What makes it even worse is that in recent years, the MTV Movie Awards has become really painful to watch.  Oh well, I will just have to catch the GoT repeat at 11. 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Thanks for the heads up, madscntst. 

22 days 13 hours 27 minutes 37 seconds since the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows has been in release(ET)!!

[ZackGolem]

I thought I heard the movie surpassed 170 mil worldwide days ago? This is a flop? I have no evidence but I personally don't believe the budget was as big as has been reported. I think it's probably been in the black for awhile. To the outside world that doesn't care about the source material this would be a pretty typical Burton movie, whimsical, weird, visually cartoonish. I don't see where people would be especially confused.

I saw it three times over three weeks in mostly full houses with very engaged audiences. Various Facebook pages have people posting constantly about how much they love it. Bad word of mouth? Burton has his haters which eviscerate pretty much everything he does. The love it or hate it aspect of the movie might actually work in it's favor. In any case I never thought a sequel for this particular enterprise was a given. Burton doesn't do many sequels ( I can only think of Batman) and nether does Depp. Pirates, sure, but that's a Disney cash cow. Dark Shadows is more like a small art film with a big budget. I think the movie will definitely find it's legs on people's TVs for years to come (where it was big in the first place!).

With Dark Shadows remakes currently arriving 20 years apart (Not counting 2004's abortion. I saw the snippet on Alec Newman's web site. Was that The Barnabas Diaries?) I may not be around for the next one but I'm hoping for a series mash-up of classic Marilyn Ross and Gold Key comics plots which put a new spin on Barnabas, his master-of -disguises cousin Quentin, and Hare, Barnabas's faithful manservant. Ok, not really.

[petofi]

With Dark Shadows remakes currently arriving 20 years apart (Not counting 2004's abortion. I saw the snippet on Alec Newman's web site. Was that The Barnabas Diaries?) I may not be around for the next one but I'm hoping for a series mash-up of classic Marilyn Ross and Gold Key comics plots which put a new spin on Barnabas, his master-of -disguises cousin Quentin, and Hare, Barnabas's faithful manservant. Ok, not really.

Oh Myyyy! 
Petofi

[michael c]

true...

without the baggage and expectations "we" brought to the film to a general audience it probably reads as the typical burton folly.

a bit all over the place but otherwise a self-contained world. they're not spun out on the possibility(or lack thereof)sequels. no one who i know(oustside fandom)who saw it was "confused". they just accepted it on it's own weird terms.

while i found the vicki/maggie merger highly disorienting they thought nothing of it. she was just some girl using an alias. neither name meant anything to them. ditto the carolyn werwolf "reveal". while i found it repugnant they just saw it as another weird element in an already weird story. they had no emotional jolt from it. and without knowing the elaborate history of the barnabas/julia relationship on the series she was just some pill-popping lady doctor who gave a vampire a bl**j*b. they certainly didn't find it as jarring as fans certainly did.

so without any preconceived notions it was what it was. and while "we" waited for five years with baited breath, devouring every press clip and photograph, for them it's just another movie they saw among hundreds of others.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I was going to hold off starting Games boards for the film, but by you bringing it up already, I've gotten an idea of how I can take random screen caps from the various videos clips that have been provided on the Internet along with the TV spots and then post something from them.

And part of that is exactly what I've just done. I've created the "Caption This! - Dark Shadows 2012" board and to get started I've posted some of the screen caps that I've already made from the various trailers/TV Spots. I've also split all the promotional clips into frames so that I can pick out stuff from those, but I haven't gotten around to going through the thousands of frame that have been created. But all in good time. 

The new board can be accessed here by first reading a gentle reminder of one of the rules:

Dark Shadows 2012 Rules

And I hope those who decide to participate have fun. I know I'm looking forward to seeing what you'll come up with because if any DS version is ripe for having fun with, it's this one. 

[Cousin_Barnabas]

I know a great many people who were confused by it... for different reasons.  (None of these folks really saw it as I did: a typical popcorn flick.  Because if you view it as anything else, you start asking too many questions... like us.)  People I have spoken with online and in-person were confused by the ending.  They were confused by the out-of-place humor...  (Same people who were confused by Alice, and hated it for that reason.)  And these are folks who aren't fans of the show, but who like Horror and Burton, etc.  Even some critics were confused by it and its completely uneven nature.  I have decided that it's due to a really poor editing job.  And I have not seen a movie with such an uneven pace or tone in quite a long time.  (In fact, after having recently watched other modern films [from less acclaimed directors], I really asked myself "How? and "Why?" in regards to Dark Shadows.  And this is where my criticism is really coming from.)  But I guess this all goes back to Burton's vision and sense of style.  And I just have to think of it as a mindless popcorn flick in order to actually accept it as it is.  Because it's so... weird.  It's not bad.  I'd give it a "C" rating.  But it's really uneven.       

[David]

The film is now 1/2 million away from a $175 million world wide gross, and that's before it opens in Latin America. There are at least 2 weeks to go on USA playdates.
Love it or hate it, the film is making money, so sequels and/or a new TV series remain on the table.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

DS is likely to be playing in the US for longer than 2 more weeks. If one looks on Box Office Mojo at how many days most major films in wide release have been playing of late, the shortest amount of time seems to be 56 days/8 weeks with several going 77 days/11 weeks and longer. DS only began its 4th week yesterday.    And one thing we do know for sure is that it will be playing in certain IMAX locations for at least 6 weeks. 

22 days 15 hours 46 minutes 33 seconds since the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows has been in release(ET)!!

[KMR]

ditto the carolyn werwolf "reveal". while i found it repugnant they just saw it as another weird element in an already weird story. they had no emotional jolt from it.

I didn't find the werewolf thing "disorienting" or objectionable in any way as being part of the story. The problem I have with it is the incredibly clumsy way it was handled, with no effective foreshadowing, blatant jokiness, justification after the fact by a throwaway line of exposition, and--maybe worst of all--nothing to tie it in with any of the rest of the plot. If it had turned out that Carolyn actually ended up being the ultimate cause for Angelique's demise, it would have made more sense. As it was, it's just bad storytelling on an objective level, quite apart from any knowledge or affinity for the classic characters.