Right now Warner Bros’ vampire sendup of the vintage TV series Dark Shadows (3,755 theaters) is a disappointment – even to audiences who gave it only a ‘B-’ CinemaScore. The comedy thriller opened by making a so-so $550K during midnight screenings overnight. But the re-teaming of Johnny Depp and Tim Burton isn’t drawing blood at the box office by only creeping out of the gate with about $10M today for at best a $28M weekend – unless there’s a late-night turnaround. Pic suffered weeks of soft tracking, mostly because The Avengers sucked all the air out of other films. Even so Dark Shadows was predicted to earn a minimum of $35M — which is feeble considering the pic cost from $150M-$175M. But it should have opened to at least a $40M-$50M weekend with the popular Depp-Burton push that last sent Alice In Wonderland grosses soaring past $1B worldwide.

http://www.deadline.com/hollywood/

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I usually don't crow over someone's failure, but in this case I'll make an exception.

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The reviews were absolutely brutal!! I didn't find one positive article about this movie anywhere!!

I know there are those who say "you can't criticize something you haven't seen" but I'd say once you have seen a film and paid for it, you have kind of "cast your vote" in the plus column already. You can't get that money or time back; that's why trailers and advance press are so important to me.

The fact that Tim Burton directed this made me assume he'd make a good looking but empty film, like most of his efforts. Johnny Depp's "Boy George crossed with clown" makeup for Barnabas made me realize they weren't trying to be faithful to the original look (and probably feel) of Barnabas. Then the trailers sealed the deal; the original was NOT a comedy and they seemed to be treating the source material as a joke, which is typical of remakes done by people who don't understand the original work.

No interest in this whatsoever; just sorry that this was the film coda for Frid, and more than likely, the others who made cameos. They all deserved MUCH, MUCH better. :(

They marketed the movie wrong with ads that looked like a total comedy. The biggest mistake was following "Avengers" which was going to take up a lot of movie-going dollars. They should have moved the release date, since opening weekend is all anyone looks at and moved to a week they had a shot at opening at #1. This was a movie for an older audience with also did not help. There is probably also some vampire burnout after all the movies in recent years. It was a good movie, but not great.

Was it intended to be a spoof of the original show? That's what it seems to be from the ads I've seen. I'll probably pick it up when it comes out on DVD.

Was it intended to be a spoof of the original show? That's what it seems to be from the ads I've seen. I'll probably pick it up when it comes out on DVD.
Not intentionally a spoof. The humor flowed naturally from reactions of a 200 year-old vampire getting his first look at the 1970's. Burton and Depp both liked the original show and I don't think they disrespected it. Today's movie audience that has pushed "Avengers" to a billion dollars don't remember "Dark Shadows". As for the film it lacks focus and never centers on what the main storyline is, the Dr. Hoffman plot is glossed over far too quickly, Vickie appears then once that story begins it is dropped for way too long, the classic battles between Barnabas and Angelique are turned into special effects showcases, the ending is too jumbled, and one big reveal during the end sequence makes no sense unless it was intended for a sequel. I liked the movie in spite of the flaws because I love "Dark Shadows", I feared the worst as far as box-office when they opened a week after "Avengers", they needed to pick a better release date. As long as it had opened #1 which Depp and Burton often do, it would be considered a success, it is all about getting a #1 opening weekend. The film is doing better outside the US.