Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS Is In Release!!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Thanks for posting the numbers, madscntst. 

I'm pleasantly surprised that it added as many theaters as it did- I was hoping that best case scenario, it'd keep the theaters it had, but I guess I should've aimed higher 

Apparently.    And the funny thing - funny in a good way, that is - is that the 173 theaters that DS added are more theaters than we thought it might be playing in in total in its 11th week in release. And what I find really interesting is that this latest expansion is bigger than the first one in a few different ways. Firstly, the first expansion brought DS' theater count up to 365, whereas this one brought it up to 412. Secondly, this time around it added almost three times as many theaters as it did with the first expansion. And finally, second expansions of this magnitude would seem to be very rare because I glanced over the theater counts for all the films this year, and it's not only WB films that haven't done anything similar - no other studio has done anything similar with any of their wide released films.

70 days 16 hours 57 minutes 27 seconds since the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows has been in release(ET)!!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Where is it picking up traction if not around us?  DS left my area two weeks ago, and I don't think it's coming back.  So I wonder what regions it is doing so well in!

It would be very interesting to know where the 173 new theaters have been added, and it would be interesting to learn the regions of the country where DS is doing so well. Unfortunately, though, beyond its first week in release we haven't been told anything about what regions of the country DS has been its most successful (that week the highest grossing regions were the south and the midwest). Though the places where DS is continuing to do so well don't necessarily have to be where the new theaters are being added. For instance, if hanging on to theaters and showtimes is an indication of DS doing well, then as I've mentioned it's most probably doing well in my area - but my area hasn't added any new theaters. So, perhaps it's possible that the new theaters could be being added in areas of the country that they feel are as yet untapped as far as the film goes and they're attempting to entice that untapped audience to the film.

70 days 17 hours 12 minutes 12 seconds since the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows has been in release(ET)!!

[Cousin_Barnabas]

That's really interesting, MB.  I find it amazing that some towns and cities are just bringing it back from the dead.  DS certainly has received an abnormally long life when many in the industry seemed to think it was dying on the vine.  I wonder if this will have Warners rethink its "flop" status, thus possibly producing interesting results.    

[michael c]

i just doublechecked and it's definitely not playing anywhere in new york city.


i've said from the getgo that it's the sort of trippy thing that could and probably will develop it's own fanbase. it seems like the sort of thing college kids would get stoned and watch fifty times. and it's certainly the stuff of the old "midnight showing".

and despite the rejection and even outrage it created in the existing DS fanbase it will probably do well with that group in the DVD market as well. especially if it contains deleted footage and other extras.

i suspect it will have a substantial afterlife.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

DS certainly has received an abnormally long life when many in the industry seemed to think it was dying on the vine.

Well, as I tried to point out even back when some Web sites were saying things like that, what they were saying was incredibly foolish - especially when DS was compared head-to-head with most of this year's other films. Deadline saying that the film was "on life support" was one of the most ridiculous comments of the group. And quite obviously the subsequent box office numbers have proved how wrong Deadline was to have said that. Though of course, they've never admitted they were wrong. And as I prophesied the other day when it comes to such sites, they probably never will. For one, they've no doubt moved on to condemning/underestimating other films - and for two, in all likelihood they're not even paying attention to DS anymore because they wrote it off long ago. Decidedly premature of them, but then that's the way so many of those sites operate. If they didn't, they wouldn't still be referring to Depp's The Tourist as a flop. 

I wonder if this will have Warners rethink its "flop" status

Though one thing we should try to keep in mind is that we've never really seen anything in which anyone directly associated with WB called the film a "flop" - it's been articles where the writers have put that and similar words like "dud" and "bomb" in the WB execs' mouths or that thought in their minds. We don't really know what WB's attitude is toward the film. Given their hope was that it would gross $100 million domestically, they may see it as a domestic box office disappointment - but there's a big difference between a disappointment and a flop or a dud or a bomb. And, of course, there's the fact that the film has been performing quite well in foreign markets, and even still has at least one where it's yet to open.

thus possibly producing interesting results.   

We should only be so lucky. 

71 days 11 hours 28 minutes 42 seconds since the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows has been in release(ET)!!

[David]

I'm SO curious to see what the weekend gross will be with all these added theaters!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

As far as theaters in this area go, I've been judging by the ones that automatically come up when I check out DS' main page on boxoffice.com. But just out of curiosity I checked the film's official Web site, and lo and behold there is a new theater showing DS in my area that I didn't know about: the Mendon Drive-In in Mendon, MA. Like I said when Gerard brought them up, I didn't even think there were drive-ins left in MA - but apparently I was wrong. But then, I don't think I've ever even been in the area around Mendon, particularly because it's a really small town. And even to say that Mendon is in my area is a bit of a stretch because it's almost 50 miles away. But apparently the official Web site considers it to be in my area because it came up when I entered my zip code. 

71 days 13 hours 10 minutes 46 seconds since the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows has been in release(ET)!!

[Uncle Roger]

Went for my seventh time this afternoon. The movie was screened in a somewhat different venue. It was the auditorium of a nearby town hall. Apparently, the town screens second run movies to generate revenue, without hiking taxes. It's a small theatre and very well kept. 

The town really seemed to support the theatre.  There was a good sized crowd for four in the afternoon. And they got into the movie, laughing at all the right places. And a few reacted when the original cast showed up for their cameo.

And the price couldn't be beat: $2.00! I'm going to try to get back there once more before I head off for the Festival.

[Gerard]

Considering discussion about box-office takes and varous current films, Warner Bros. and tallying agencies have initiated a total black-out in reporting how the new Batman film is doing following the terrible tragedy a few days ago.

http://movies.msn.com/movies/article.aspx?news=745018

Gerard

[madscntst]

Yes, and it looks like estimates for ALL films, not just Dark Knight Rises, have been withheld for the weekend.  That is definitely understandable.  What an unspeakable tragedy, and it certainly puts everything into perspective, doesn't it?

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Speaking of box office, nothing for the foreign film Bol Bachchan has been posted anywhere since the numbers for it were posted for last Sunday, so it's hard to know how DS ranked last Monday-Thursday. I already mentioned that DS looked like it came in either 23rd or 24th on Monday, and about the only things I can say at this point would seem to be that DS looked like it was also either 23rd or 24th on Tuesday and Wednesday, and 22nd or 23rd on Thursday - and as far as the full 10th week goes, it came in either 28th or 29th (because, remember, it was ranked lower during last weekend, so that would pull down its overall rank for the week).

And as far as a comparison to Wrath of the Titans goes, DS ended up bringing in $128,973 more than what that film grossed in its 10th week in release. Though now that DS has deviated significantly from Wrath of the Titans' release pattern, their 10th weeks will be the last time they can be compared head-to-head. It certainly wouldn't be fair to compare what DS might gross in 412 theaters to what Wrath of the Titans grossed in only 150.

72 days 19 hours 27 minutes 43 seconds since the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows has been in release(ET)!!

[David]

 
It's an unfair comparison regardless because DS is so much better as a film!

[mm#7]

I understand the tentative  street date for this film is Oct 2, 2012,has anyone heard and  differently? Thankyou

[madscntst]

Yes, mm, that is what blu-ray.com says:

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Dark-Shadows-Blu-ray/35610/

though so far, I don't see it on Amazon for preorder (I'm signed up there to get a notice when it is up for preorder). 

As to comparing DS with Wrath, unfair, unschmair.  They both got the same chance, and if Wrath was doing better later in its run it would've had more theaters.  Wrath did better in its opening, so now DS gets a chance to do better later on.  A comparison is valid, I say!   

[Nicky]

How interesting that the Blu Ray features only Barnabas surrounded by Julia, Elizabeth, Angelique, and Carolyn ... not a hint of Roger, Vicki, or David.