Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS Is In Release!!

 
My interview with Gabriel Frelich went really well. He's a very happy and enthusiastic young actor. He's working on another vampire flick and shared some great stories about Burton Depp and Bella Heathcoate. He does half time in London and half time in LA, so I'm gonna ask him if he'd ever like to attend a fest.
and now to type my story up for Mr Editor at Fangoria!

Oops - I forgot to post the link to Wednesday's Box Office

DS made less Wed. than the other weekdays this week

It is funny how Wednesdays seem to be the low point of the week for most films.

48 days 19 hours 56 minutes 20 seconds since the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows has been in release(ET)!!

I'm fascinated by all of the posts about "cheapie" theaters.  There hasn't been a second- or third-run theater in my area in years, and I really miss them!  It seems that today was the last day of the DS movie's theatrical run in my area (Philadelphia, birthplace of a certain Divine One...).  Saw it twice and enjoyed it more the second time, and was really hoping for a third theatrical viewing.

I'm surprised, Claude, that in a metropolitan area of that size that you don't have one.  I live in a one-horse town with just one movie theater (eight screens), and we have our cheapie cinema.  It's extremely popular (obviously for that price of 99 cents) and often showings are sold out.  When I saw the DS-THG double-feature, there was nary a seat left to be found and the auditorium is huge.  The other two times I saw DS in regular theaters, I would dare say that less than 10% (and that's being gracious, overly-gracious) of the seats were occupied.  DS was, undoubtedly, far more profitable in the theater that charged less than a buck as opposed to the ones that charged over seven bucks for a matinee viewing.  Right now, that macabre version of Snow White is playing and even on weeknights the cars fill the curbsides for blocks around the theater.

Gerard

Very interesting - in my area DS closed in one of the two theaters that were showing it twice a day - but it opened today in two first run theaters that had never been showing it. Both first runs are showing it four times a day - and in the other theater, which has been showing DS since May 11th, it still has the prime early evening slot as one of its two showings, which must mean that DS is still doing well there.

DS still has yet to open in any of the discount theaters in the area.

49 days 11 hours 21 minutes 18 seconds since the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows has been in release(ET)!!

The Avengers DVDs are being released on September 25th. Let's hope WB doesn't make the same mistake twice. http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=92084

The numbers are in for Thursday and DS had the second highest percentage of increase in the Top 25 films and brought in $32,608, which brings its current domestic gross to $75,887,358.

Thursday's Box Office

As far as rankings go, the weekly numbers are in and DS placed 20th on Monday, 22nd on Tuesday, 24th on Wednesday and Thursday, and 23rd for the week overall.

And as I alluded to yesterday, in its 7th week DS continued to outperform Wrath of the Titans. In its 7th week that film brought in $268,728, whereas DS brought in $394,698.    And given that as I said yesterday, Wrath of the Titans brought in $651,413 for its 8th week when it added new theaters and was playing in 360, we can only hope that DS will continue to outperform Wrath of the Titans now that it has added new theaters and is playing in 365 theaters in its 8th week. 

49 days 19 hours 0 minutes 4 seconds since the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows has been in release(ET)!!

I was just over checking out the various charts on Box Office Mojo, and even though Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter isn't exactly raking in money, at least those involved with the film, though chiefly Seth Grahame-Smith, can take some consolation in the fact that it's doing better than both That's My Boy (apparently Adam Sandler should never release a film when there are superhero films to compete with it because those superheroes tie up his young male fanbase) and Rock Of Ages (a seemingly real bomb for Warner Brothers). But that may not continue for long if what's happening around here is happening elsewhere in the country because I also noticed that 8 out of the 14 theaters within a 30 mile radius of me have reduced AL:VH to only two showings a day in only its 2nd week in release.    And much worse: 1 one those 14 theaters is only showing it once a day! All of that is practically unheard of!    I mean, the vast majority of films never have their showings reduced until weeks into their releases. It most certainly does not bode well for AL:VH to have it happening at such an early point in its release. 

To think that at one point I was worried that if AL:VH was released before DS, it might have overshadowed DS. But I'm guessing there probably wasn't ever any worry of that. Actually, it's quite possible that if DS had come out after AL:VH and even if it was to bring in the same amount of money at the box office that it currently is, it would have been heralded as a hit (certainly a hit by comparison for both Seth Grahame-Smith and Tim Burton) by all the snarky film commentators instead of as a bomb or a dud or a flop. But then, timing is everything.


And something else that I also noticed on Box Office Mojo is that Warner Brothers closed Wrath of the Titans on Thursday after its 13th week in release. We should only be so lucky that they might leave DS in theaters that long - particularly considering how DS has been outperforming it lately. Although, something else that I noticed today that I'd never paid attention to is that when it comes to head-to-head comparison of Mondays through Thursdays at the box office, DS has actually been consistently outperforming Wrath of the Titans since their 3rd weeks in release, with DS bringing in $2,689,413 more than what Wrath of the Titans was grossing during weekdays in its 3rd through 7th weeks. I don't know what it means or what may have caused it - and I may be the only one - but I do find it fascinating.    Particularly when, once again, no one is calling Wrath of the Titans a bomb or a dud or a flop.

50 days 12 hours 7 minutes 40 seconds since the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows has been in release(ET)!!

I’ve been waiting for it to get to our MaxiSaver ($1 all tickets), assuming it eventually would.  So, it’s finally there and I was able to see it on Friday.  Up until now I’ve been gingerly following this thread, and every time something seemed to be referring to the plot, skipping the rest of the post.  I did manage to avoid any spoilers!

There’s one other theater in the region (the county to the north) that has it.  That one is $3.50 each and I think it’s been there for a while.  Those are the only 2 to have it now.

I liked it.  While it’s very different from what we’re used to, which we certainly expected (and didn’t want another “repeat” anyway), I felt the major aspects were true to the original.  I’ll do the rest as spoilers as I plan to mention some specifics.

[spoiler]I thought the opening background was good.  It set up the situation, and while a bit different than the original story, was close enough to it.  In the modern story I thought that Barnabas’ relationships with Vicki, Julia and Angelique were suitable for the Barnabas that we’re familiar with.  So, while there were drastic differences in the story, and obviously the production values and special effects made it seem very different, the essence was sufficiently what it should be for me to enjoy it.  I kept trying to think what effect it would have on someone with no knowledge of the original, but that really isn’t possible.

There were some interesting little touches.  I liked the Maggie Evans - Victoria Winters name thing.   Carolyn was obviously different, but Roger seemed perfect.  I liked David. 

I knew that there would just be a brief glimpse of the “original” actors in the party scene, so I was paying close attention.  However, it seems to me, that if they were going to include them, get them to go to England (especially Jonathan given his age and, evidently, his health), they could have at least made sure to show each one for at least a couple of seconds, so that those who knew who they were would be sure to see them.  Otherwise, what was the point of it?  A few extra seconds to the movie certainly wouldn’t have hurt.  I think they could even have given them a brief line, being welcomed to the party or something, but at least show them!![/spoiler]

Anyways, I can now go back and see what everyone else had to say!!

[spoiler]I knew that there would just be a brief glimpse of the “original” actors in the party scene, so I was paying close attention.  However, it seems to me, that if they were going to include them, get them to go to England (especially Jonathan given his age and, evidently, his health), they could have at least made sure to show each one for at least a couple of seconds, so that those who knew who they were would be sure to see them.  Otherwise, what was the point of it?  A few extra seconds to the movie certainly wouldn’t have hurt.  I think they could even have given them a brief line, being welcomed to the party or something, but at least show them!![/spoiler]

[spoiler]There's been some stuff written that Burton supposedly wanted to do more with Frid but Frid just wasn't up to it. So perhaps, if there was more stuff shot with the other three original actors, it simply wasn't used in the final film in deference to Frid so that it wouldn't look like they had been given more to do than he was given. Who knows? Maybe we'll find out once the DVD/Blu-ray is released - and perhaps even a deleted sequence of two with the other three actors might even be included.[/spoiler]

Speaking of the DVD/Blu-ray release, it always seems to take me at least a week to get around to finish reading an issue of Entertainment Weekly, and last night while I was finishing up last week's issue I came across their DVD/Blu-ray review of 21 Jump Street. And the reason why I mention it is because the review made a specific point of reminding readers that the reworking of 21 Jump Street gets "what so many TV shows-turned-movies don't: that being reverential is death" because that quite often seems to be the case, both creatively and financially. And I know that has been mentioned in this topic before - but it was very interesting to be reminded of it again in a magazine that has being a commentator/analyser of film as one of its main missions. It's also interesting that EW loved both 21 Jump Street and DS as they gave both a B+.

And one other thing worth mentioning about the 21 Jump Street DVD/Blu-ray review is that it mentions that apparently only the Blu-ray version includes 20 deleted scenes. Hopefully for the sakes of DS fans who don't yet own Blu-ray players it won't be the case that the deleted scenes from DS will only be included on its Blu-ray - but even if that does turn out to be the case, we should only be so lucky that it will include as many as 20 deleted scenes (or dare I hope, even more). And it also includes "a Depp-on-the-set featurette" - something I certainly wouldn't mind Depp also doing for DS.

And finally, something else that was also interesting in the DVD section of last week's EW is that apparently Warner Brother's Project X has been issued with both the 88 minute theatrical version and a 94 minute extended cut. An extended cut is something we can only pray for when it comes to DS!

51 days 11 hours 42 minutes 21 seconds since the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows has been in release(ET)!!

I went to see DS at a 2nd run in Rumford, RI today.  The sound was HORRIBLE and the picture was not much better.  I'd only seen pristine digital presentations before this and assumed that was the norm.  But it was only $1.99, so I guess I can't complain. 

$1.99?  At the cheapie theater, and it wasn't digital?  And I paid 99 cents and saw it digitally with The Hunger Games, also in digital?  My goodness, but you fancy people need to come here, like I said, to Bugtussle. 

Gerard

$1.99?  At the cheapie theater, and it wasn't digital?  And I paid 99 cents and saw it digitally with The Hunger Games, also in digital?  My goodness, but you fancy people need to come here, like I said, to Bugtussle.

I hope no one in South Texas sees this post!! I'm constantly going on and on about how great Rhode Island is. The cheapie theaters in Weslaco, Harlingen, McAllen, Pharr, and Brownsville are all showing it digitally in its second run!

I wasn't even aware that there's a discount theater in Rumford, RI. But with the place being as bad as you say, I suppose not many people would be recommending their friends to go there.    And it's interesting that it doesn't seem to come up on either Box Office Mojo or boxoffice.com as one of the theaters showing DS. But maybe both have had it banned from their lists of theaters. 

But anyway, I'm sorry you had such a bad experience - especially when it might be the last time you'll see DS in a theater. 

52 days 11 hours 6 minutes 3 seconds since the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows has been in release(ET)!!

 

When I see the film (for the 5th time!) at the Castro in SF on July 18, it'll be projected on film!

The Castro has a Friday night series called Midnight For Maniacs, triple bills of older B & cult films. I'm going to email them and request that they do all three DS films at the Midnight series--HODS & NODS packed the place in 2008.