Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS Is In Release!!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Speaking of LA, it was fun to watch Extra these past few weeks and to see the banners and marquee for DS whenever they were shooting the show in The Grove.

15 days 13 hours 14 minutes 58 seconds since the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows has been in release(ET)!!

[David]

The DS billboard at Van Ness and Pine in San Francisco has been replaced with a McDonald's billboard.
 
I'm glad that the film is doing so well in Europe and Asia, and that it did better than Dictator/Battleship, but it still did only half the USA biz that Warners was hoping for.
Europe/Asia will put the film into the profit column shortly, but Warners ain't happy about those US ticket sales, and that could interfere with future films or a new TV series.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

There's still quite a bit of US box office to play out. Plus there's the US DVD/Blu-ray sales/rentals. So it still remains to be seen how profitable the film will be strictly in the US...

And speaking of box office, I see on Box Office Mojo's Friday estimates chart that DS is now playing in 3404 theaters. That a loss of only 351 theaters - and that's not bad.

15 days 13 hours 52 minutes 5 seconds since the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows has been in release(ET)!!

[MsCriseyde]

I wouldn't read too much into the removal of advertising from billboards, bus shelters, etc. A lot of that ad space is purchased in advance for a limited period of time to coincide with the opening of a film and then it is removed.

Similarly, anecdotal evidence about the number of people in the theater at any given performance can be misleading. Otherwise, based on seeing Cold Mountain in the theater during a matinee several years ago, I would have to conclude that no one under 70 saw the movie and that I was the youngest person to ever watch it. 

I went to a Tuesday 12:45 pm IMAX screening of Dark Shadows this week, and my sister and I were the only people in the theater; however, (a) that particular theater is not anywhere near a shopping mall and (b) many of the local schools had not let out for the summer at that point.

The theater is beside an interstate, and they purchase space on the rotating billboard at the nearest exit. It currently features Dark Shadows.

[David]

I of course expect the billboards to come down as new films open. But I walk by that intersection daily, so it was sad to see Johnny go.......

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I would have to conclude that no one under 70 saw the movie and that I was the youngest person to ever watch it. 

I've been to those sorts of showings, too.    And in terms of people in the theaters, up to and including Thursday DS was never any lower than the 4th biggest moneymaker for the day - and there are dozens of films in release that are still being tracked. And if Friday's estimates hold, with Friday's box office DS already reached the Top 15 for the year so far. And throughout the holiday weekend it should only climb up higher...

And as far as the billboards, banners, and whatever go, we need to keep in mind that hardly any films are ever promoted beyond their 2nd week of release. Yesterday DS started its 3rd.

15 days 14 hours 44 minutes 28 seconds since the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows has been in release(ET)!!

[madscntst]

With today's estimate of just over $2M, DS's unadjusted box office (~$57.5M) has now surpassed 2 more of Johnny's films: Once Upon A Time In Mexico and Edward Scissorhands.  Up next:  another ~$10M needed to reach The Tourist    The numbers don't look as good if you look at figures adjusted for inflation, how ever they calculate that.  But I've also heard from some film buff forums that it's not really fair to do that, either, because movie attendance in general has been on the decline for years, since we now have so many more choices available to us nowadays (DVDs coming out so much more quickly, cable, on demand, streaming, etc. etc.). So even though there are breakouts like The Avengers, it's tough for a typical box office of today to compare with that of years ago.

I *still* haven't made it for my 2nd viewing, but it looks like tomorrow is going to be the day.  It has been taken away from IMAX at the theater near me, but there are still 2 other IMAX theaters in the general DC area that still have DS airing(s), so I may shoot for a 6 p.m. showing at one of them.  Otherwise the theater near me (non-IMAX) still has plenty of showings.

[Gerard]

One of my best friend's (and he went with us on our three-dozen-or-so excursion that first Saturday to see the movie) parents, who live not far from Philadelphia, went to see the movie.  My friend's mother, who watched the OS on-and-off (primarily because of Joan Bennett), absolutely loved the movie.  It brought back memories of the OS, and she thought it was a perfect blend of drama and comedy.  She'd see it again.  My friend's father didn't like it.  He wanted more gore, blood and guts and horror in a dark, Hammeresque fashion.

Both are 80 years old.

Gerard

[Gerard]

I would have to conclude that no one under 70 saw the movie and that I was the youngest person to ever watch it. 

That's very telling.  I mentioned in previous posts, when I saw it (two times), the overwhelming, vast majority of those in the seats were what would be considered "middle-aged" (in their  late forties and up).  As I also stated earlier, the first time I left the screening room, those waiting outside were around "our" age and were asking us:  "Is it good?  Is it like the show?  Will we like it?"  (I said yes.) 

So, it now seems to me that those who wanted to see the movie were original fans.  They saw it in droves (despite those stupid anti-DS-film fazebook people).  Those unfamiliar stayed away.  The question is, why?  Again, I blame WB marketing.  Despite the current vampiremania (which I think is now waning - zombies are the latest thing, and I love those critters, too), the studio just did not know how to promote it.  It wanted that apparent money-spending crowd of tweens, teens and 20-somethings.  WB thought that it could connect with the Twilight crowd, but Twilight has seen it's light of day (pardon the pun) and is waning.  But it didn't want to market it as a Twilight rehash.  It didn't know what to do.  It tried to market it as an American Graffiti that those of us in the early seventies flocked to see because of nostalgia.  The problem is, the post-generation-X crowd doesn't care about what happened last year, let alone several decades ago.  Things have changed in attitude. 

Gerard

[MsCriseyde]

I would have to conclude that no one under 70 saw the movie and that I was the youngest person to ever watch it. 

That's very telling.  I mentioned in previous posts, when I saw it (two times), the overwhelming, vast majority of those in the seats were what would be considered "middle-aged" (in their  late forties and up).

The comment that's being quoted here was in reference to the film Cold Mountain to illustrate the dangers of drawing conclusions about audiences based on attendance at any one screening of a film.

It wasn't the case with the first screening of Dark Shadows that I attended with the Central Florida DS Fan Club, and it wasn't the case at the second screening I attended (because no one was there other than me and my sister).

[madscntst]

there are still 2 other IMAX theaters in the general DC area that still have DS airing(s), so I may shoot for a 6 p.m. showing at one of them. 

I had to mention a funny thing- I was watching a Dateline-style program on our local news station earlier, and during the hour they had not one, but two commercials for DS being at the 2 IMAX theaters I just mentioned this afternoon!  So at least in this area, they are still advertising DS and specifically promoting the area IMAX screens to see it on 

[michael c]

at all three screenings i've attended the audience has been very multi-generational. definitely not skewing towards one age group or another.

at the opening day showing, which was packed, there was a small round of applause when the four OS actors appeared onscreen. which would make sense as die-hard fans likely attended on the first day.

at subsequent shows the audience had no reaction to the cameos and likely didn't know who they were.

and again, i think this is going to have a huge afterlife in the DVD market.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

So at least in this area, they are still advertising DS and specifically promoting the area IMAX screens to see it on 

Local commercials promoting showings at specific theaters used to be a mainstay of film promotion back in the day, but I haven't seen commercials like that in my area in decades. It's fascinating that they're doing it in your area with the DS film.

And something else that's interesting is I was quite surprised to see some new interview material featuring Chloe Moretz and Bella Heathcote on this weekend's installment of Entertainers. I'd pretty much figured last weekend's stuff with Eva Green was the last that show would have featured to promote DS. But I was happily wrong. 

16 days 11 hours 8 minutes 47 seconds since the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows has been in release(ET)!!

[MsCriseyde]

David Selby's blog post on the new movie is back up after some tweaks. It does contain spoilers:

http://www.davidselby.com/blog/2012/05/25/comments-on-tim-burton-and-johnny-depps-dark-shadows/

[David]

Box Office Mojo predicts that DS will take in 7.5 million in the USA this weekend. Add Chernobyl Diaries to the list of films that opened after DS that did poorly, DS did considerably better than Diaries, along with Battleship, Dictator and What to Expect.