Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS Is In Release!!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

another thing to keep in mind is that very few wide released films are even still in theaters for a 13th week and beyond. Of the ones that have been lucky enough to have reached a 13th week, only 10 played in more theaters in that week:

The Hunger Games (593)
Dr. Seuss' The Lorax (390)
Marvel's The Avengers (373)
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (303)
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (276)
21 Jump Street (258)
Mirror Mirror (222)
Safe House (175)
The Vow (157)
John Carter (153)

and This Means War played in just as many.

As might be expected, playing in more theaters in their 13th week did prove to be an advantage over DS for many of those films - but not all. And once again DS managed to rank higher when it came to its per screen:

Film	Gross	Per Screen
=====================	========	========
The Hunger Games{1}	$852,832	$1,438{1}
Marvel's The Avengers{3}	$512,958	$1,375{2}
Dr. Seuss' The Lorax{2}	$475,785	$1,220{3}
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel{5}	$335,342	$1,215{4}
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island{4}	$287,017	$947{6}
21 Jump Street{6}	$252,130	$977{5}
Mirror Mirror{7}	$155,635	$701{9}
John Carter{10}	$136,834	$894{7}
DARK SHADOWS{11}	$108,838	$825{8}
Safe House{8}	$106,750	$610{10}
The Vow{9}	$73,846	$470{11}
This Means War{11}	$67,435	$511{12}

(The number in {} after a film's name indicates how it ranked based on how many theaters it played in during its 13th week in release, and the number in {} after the per screen indicates how a film's per screen for its 13th weekend ranked against the other films for that period.)

It certainly didn't help This Means War to be playing in just as many theaters as DS. And, of course, it's still worth pointing out that when it comes to The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Mirror Mirror, John Carter, and This Means War, none of those films have grossed as much as DS has to this point - and that The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel didn't go wide until its 4th week.

Also, DS' numbers become even more impressive when one realizes that so far this year only 22 wide released films have been lucky enough to still be in theaters for a 13th week and one sees how that full list stacks up:

Rank	Film	Gross	Theaters	Per Screen
====	=====================	========	======	=========
1.)	The Hunger Games	$852,832	593	$1,438{1}
2.)	Marvel's The Avengers	$512,958	373	$1,375{2}
3.)	Dr. Seuss' The Lorax	$475,785	390	$1,220{3}
4.)	The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel1	$335,342	276	$1,215{4}
5.)	Journey 2: The Mysterious Island	$287,017	303	$947{7}
6.)	21 Jump Street	$252,130	258	$977{6}
7.)	Mirror Mirror2	$155,635	222	$701{10}
8.)	John Carter3	$136,834	153	$894{8}
9.)	DARK SHADOWS	$108,838	132	$825{9}
10.)	Safe House4	$106,750	175	$610{14}
11.)	Chronicle (2012)	$75,715	121	$626{13}
12.)	The Vow5	$73,846	157	$470{20}
13.)	This Means War	$67,435	132	$511{18}
14.)	Beauty and the Beast (3D)	$59,989	58	$1,034{5}
15.)	Act of Valor	$52,955	96	$552{16}
16.)	The Three Stooges	$51,142	76	$673{11}
17.)	Wrath of the Titans6	$45,546	70	$651{12}
18.)	The Cabin in the Woods	$43,369	83	$523{17}
19.)	The Woman in Black	$28,552	63	$453{21}
20.)	Red Tails	$25,950	43	$603{15}
21.)	The Lucky One	$20,853	41	$509{19}
22.)	Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (in 3D)	$6,978	17	$410{22}

(Films placing higher in the chart than DS but which have thus far grossed less than DS has so far: ¹ To date has grossed $45,014,055 - $34,613,969 less than DS has to date; ² To date has grossed $64,890,595 - $14,737,429 less than DS to date; ³ Grossed $73,078,100 - $6,549,924 less than DS to date.
Films placing lower in the chart than DS but which grossed more than DS has so far:  ⁴ Grossed $126,181,630 - $46,553,606 more than DS has to date; ⁵ Grossed $125,014,030 - $45,386,006 more than DS has to date; ⁶ Grossed $83,670,083 - $4,042,059 more than DS has to date.)

Notice how Chronicle (2012) sneaked in higher than The Vow and This Means War were in the previous chart because it grossed more than they did in fewer than 132 theaters.

88 days 13 hours 22 minutes 28 seconds since the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows has been in release(ET)!!

[The Doctor and K9]

DS is still scheduled to be in Brownsville, TX for the week of 8/10/-16.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Excellent. Thanks so much for the heads up, The Doctor and K9. 

[KMR]

Since MB has asked that we move the discussion of "Magtoria" from the Tarrytown Fest report thread over to this thread, here's my thought on the topic:

The character's background was a wonderful idea, and they mostly did it very well.  My only problem was when the name change came up as an impromptu thing on the train en route to Collinsport.  As others have pointed out, this makes no sense since she apparently had already applied for the job, presumably under the name "Maggie Evans".  I don't really understand the need for her to change her name, except that she just wants to have a new name because she's starting out on a journey to a new life.

But overlooking that, it otherwise plays very well.  For a two-hour film, it is a much better way to give the character a compelling reason to go to Collinwood.  The orphan-looking-for-her-real-family thing is really way too much for a film that has the Barnabas story at its center; the new background for the character ties her in strongly with Barnabas.  And the possession-and/or-reincarnation bit was very inventive, a fresher take in comparison to the typical (stale) reincarnation thing.  The way it was done in the 1991 series--while Joanna Going was absolutely wonderful in the role--the timing of Victoria's arrival at Collinwood right before Barnabas' release from the coffin seemed coincidental, not as something arranged by external powers.  Victoria's background, and her conscious reason for coming to Collinwood, seemed pretty much irrelevant.

Has anyone else felt that Vicki in the new movie recalls Eleanor in The Haunting of Hill House?  She's a woman with a troubled background drawn to a large house, feeling like it's her destiny, and--at the climax--doing things deliberately to reach that destination.

[madscntst]

I agree with most of what you say, KMR (especially the clunky way they had Maggie "suddenly" come up with a new name).  Gonna have to give it some thought to see if I have any additional thoughts on that...

Meanwhile, we have today's BO #'s from boxoffice.com:  $16,575 for a total now of $79,644,599

http://www.boxoffice.com/statistics/bo_numbers/daily/2012-08-07

It did just a little less than Abraham Lincoln, though it's been in theaters 6 weeks longer    It should not quite make it to $79.7M by the end of the week.  So close and yet so far from that elusive $80M! 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Thanks for posting the numbers, madscntst. 

Again I'm quite pleased with how DS is doing this week because once again I was using fellow WB films Wrath of the Titans and The Lucky One as benchmarks and was hoping that on Monday DS would bring in something between what they'd brought in on the Monday of their 11th weeks in release - and that was $14,017 and $10,357, respectively - and once again DS has exceeded that hope. In fact, once again it's even bested fellow WB film Journey 2: The Mysterious Island because that film brought in $15,275 on the Monday when it was in 126 theaters.

88 days 16 hours 4 minutes 33 seconds since the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows has been in release(ET)!!

[Josette]

I really liked the Maggie-Vicky thing; I thought it was quite clever, although I did wonder about her just doing it on her way when they were already expecting her - did they not know the name of the person they were expecting?

[Cousin_Barnabas]

I assumed that she had already been going by the name Victoria Winters, accidentally said her old name, looked up and was reminded of her new identity, and corrected herself.  Is this not a possible inference, or am I forgetting something that happened which would make this implausible?   

[madscntst]

I assumed that she had already been going by the name Victoria Winters, accidentally said her old name, looked up and was reminded of her new identity, and corrected herself.  Is this not a possible inference, or am I forgetting something that happened which would make this implausible?   

Well... this would be fine.  I think the one "implausibility" that some of us seem to be tripping over is that she looked up and saw that poster/ad before calling herself Victoria Winters.  One way to look at that (and the way I looked at it when I first saw the scene) would be that she thought of her new name right when she saw the poster, and changed her name right there on the spot.  But that would not fit with her having already applied for the job. 

I guess it's also possible that she had already thought of her new name, possibly after being inspired by that same poster at some point previously.  However, what would have been the chances that while rehearsing her introduction on the train, that that exact poster would just happen to be on the train facing right back at her?  Unless we are to assume that that was a VERY popular ad that would've been everywhere she looked.  It just felt very clunky to me.  I think that at one point, perhaps on this thread, I even suggested that perhaps she could've been rehearsing her introduction, and then looked *down* at a clipping that she already had taken with her as a reminder- to me, that could've been a way to fit the idea that she must've already chosen the name before she was sitting there on the train.

[Lydia]

I saw the movie once, on the day it opened, which is nearly three months ago now, so I may be remembering it incorrectly.  But it seems to me that there were very few concrete details on the time leading up to Maggie/Vicky's arrival at Collinwood.  Is the following scenario possible?  Josette influences Maggie to get the clipping, and influences Maggie to get on the train without Maggie fully understanding what is happening.  Then, in her own ghostly fashion, Josette creates the application at Collinwood.  In that case, either Josette created the application before Maggie decided to be Victoria Winters, or else Josette influenced Maggie to see the poster.

Even if it didn't make any sense, I loved the poster bit.  And (I think somebody made a comment of this sort already) that's a lot of what Dark Shadows is about: loving it in spite or even because of the things that don't make sense.

Incidentally, mightn't it be possible to have a separate topic for this very interesting subject rather that mixing it up with box office returns or Tarrytown reports?

[jimbo]

I'm with those who believes Maggie made up her aka name on the fly despite it not making sense in the story line.

I think this short video is pretty cool and well done: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Cqsen5K9tw

[Uncle Roger]

Very cool video, Jimbo. Thank you so much for sharing it.

[KMR]

Is the following scenario possible?  Josette influences Maggie to get the clipping, and influences Maggie to get on the train without Maggie fully understanding what is happening.  Then, in her own ghostly fashion, Josette creates the application at Collinwood.  In that case, either Josette created the application before Maggie decided to be Victoria Winters, or else Josette influenced Maggie to see the poster.

Wow, Lydia, that's a very clever scenario!  I'll buy it!

[michael c]

nice theories but i'll not make excuses for bad/sloppy writing...

unlike the old on-the-fly nature of the daily show the film had five years to work out the kinks. at any point in the production someone should have looked at this situation and realized that it made no sense.


it was a colossal gaffe and, like turning carolyn into a werewolf in the movies last five minutes, pretty unforgivable.

[KMR]

it was a colossal gaffe and, like turning carolyn into a werewolf in the movies last five minutes, pretty unforgivable.

Well, yes, the werewolf bit--and the projectile vomit--were totally unnecessary, at odds with the general tone, and pulled me out of the movie.