It's definitely true that the entertainment media feels the need to spin a story to make headlines. Would that that wasn't true and that they actually focused on confirmed facts rather than spin and/or innuendo. But then the overwhelming glut of tabloid magazines and Web sites quite obviously shows that far too many people aren't interested in facts - they want the spin and the innuendo - and it often seems that the worse you can paint something, the more people are likely to be interested in hearing about it. It's a odd quirk in much of society. But then, this isn't a sociological discussion site, so I'll leave that part of the discussion at that. And the final thing I'll say on the subject of spin is that the sad fact of the matter is that saying that a film they've declared a flop will in all likelihood make its money back when all is said and done isn't in the least bit tantalizing, so it's no wonder that these entertainment sites never quite seem to bring that up, or even acknowledge it when it happens. And as for these sites quoting executives from other studios, well, even when they're identified and they speak on the record, I take that sort of thing with a grain of salt because they have their own agendas to promote - but when they hide behind anonymity, well, as I've said before, I take what they say with pounds of salt. In fact, I often wonder if the so-called studio exec even exists and isn't simply made up as a way to bolster the opinions the writer has already formed and wants to promote. The sad thing is that at one time no one would dream that people might make up parts of their stories - but today that's no longer the case.
As for whether or not DS would have made more money had it been completely serious, that's a hard thing to say either way. But what is known is that, in general, vampire movies do not bring in bucket loads of box office money. A look at the vampire genre chart on Box Office Mojo will show that. Outside of the
Twilight films, which already had a built-in audience thanks to the books being current and so popular, box office rarely approaches anything like $100 million, much less surpasses it. It's probably truer than it rarely even approaches half of that.
As for what Warner Brothers did to help
The Tourist make money, they did as much as they're currently doing for DS. Like I said, films are very rarely promoted by their studios after two weeks of wide release.
And I would also question whether or not DS has bad word of mouth. As I said the other day, it's certainly not true of the people I know of who've seen the film because they have definitely recommended it to their friends. And one thing we most certainly shouldn't do is necessarily judge based on what may be being written on the Internet because the Internet is almost completely a place where more people are likely to complain about anything and everything than they are likely to defend it. The fact is that DS received a B- from the audience polling outfit Cinemascore, and not only when I went to school, but when I taught college, B's were considered good grades. Sure, some entertainment sites have said a B- is a "poor grade" - but the ones with any grasp on reality realize that isn't the case - and believe it or not the other day I actually came across a site that described the D+ received by
Chernobyl Diaries as a "poor grade" - and hello, that's far more accurate. There's no way a B- and a D+ are synonymous in reality. The only place they might be synonymous is in the delusional worlds of some Internet entertainment sites.
![[ghost_rolleyes]](http://www.dsboards.com/SMF/Smileys/classic/ghost_rolleyes.gif "Roll Eyes")
But in the real world A's are Excellent, B's are Good, C's are Average, D's are Poor, and F is Failure.
![[ghost_wink]](http://www.dsboards.com/SMF/Smileys/classic/ghost_wink.gif "Wink")
21 days 20 hours 25 minutes 16 seconds since the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows has been in release(ET)!!
Topic: Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS Is In Release!! (Read 348677 times)