lokmon said:
Just wondering 'bout this over the weekend:
Do you think the PG13 horror genre has peaked? Think about, ever since The Grudge, most of them have just petered out and become lesser hits than anticipated. Movies like Hide and Seek, Boogeyman, Cursed, and now Ring Two have underperformed at the B.O.
The reason I bring it up is that I'm worried that by the time Fog unspools, the genre could be on its last legs, and it would be a shame if the movie doesn't do well. If for no other reason than to preempt the fanboys who will invariably troll over here and say "told you Welling couldn't carry a movie...yada...yada...yada."
I know scary movies tend to do better in October. But what do you all think?
Well, first and foremost, I think the comic book genre will burn out a lot faster than the horror genre - if either burns out at all! LOL That said, remakes, particularly horror remakes, are a shot in the dark for studios (no pun intended.) There is no magic elixir. As with any film, a great cast isn't going to save a schitty script, and vice versa. So horror directors often shoot for shock value and genre staples. There was a chain e-mail that went around a few years ago that had me rolling. It listed all of the events you could usually count on seeing in a horror movie, and every one of them was spot on. Truly hysterical. Now, critics find that derivative and will pan the film accordingly for it. But horror fans love that sort of thing; that's why they go!
With John Carpenter's name behind both the original and the remake, The Fog should do well. It will likely be a very front loaded film, meaning the bulk of its BO will be made in the first week. IF it gets good word of mouth like The Ring did, it might surprise people and grow legs. It's tough to predict, but having read some of the script sides, it does look like it will be entertaining. How "scary" it will be is up for grabs though. And ultimately, that's what it needs to be since it is *supposed* to be a true horror film. Given the nature of the "monster" in this film, I think it will be more successful with audiences if they make it more about what you DON'T see, than what you do. If Wainwright goes for just blood and gore, it won't last long in the theaters. Just a hunch. Audiences today want more psychological terror, not visual. Like I said, it's all about what you don't see than what you do. Jaws, anybody?
I took a peek at some of the top money making horror remakes over at
Box Office Mojo. Its a nice site for comparing BO tallies by genre, something Variety doesn't do. Some things jumped out at me, which I'm sure helped contribute to the success of the top films. Here's a few observations:
Hans Zimmer did the soundtrack for The Ring. Hello?
Hans Zimmer! The man has five Oscar noms and one win. He's the music composer of such films as Gladiator, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Last Samurai, Black Hawk Down, Pearl Harbor, Hannibal, Mission Impossible, The Rock, and Twister. And oh yeah, he's got another film coming out in June. Batman, something.
Sam Raimi was the producer for The Grudge, a film that starred Sarah Michelle Gellar. I'm not a Buffy fan, but gosh there are a lot of them out there. And I'm sure many fans flocked to the film just to see her. Raimi has some cred in the genre too; the Evil Dead franchise is a personal fav of mine. He's also had some success with comic book characters, or so I've heard.
The Haunting, while hardly a critical success, had all the ingredients in place to do well at the BO. Great cast (Liam Neeson - hmm... where have I heard THAT name before?, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Owen Wilson). Music was composed by Jerry Goldsmith, and the film was directed by Jan DeBont (director for Speed and Twister, producer for Minority Report and Equilibrium, and cinematographer for Cujo, Die Hard, The Hunt for Red October, Flatliners and Lethal Weapon 3.)
Those are the top three films, but if you scan down that list and do some clicking, you'll find a lot of "clues" to their individual success.
So, what does The Fog have?
- Well, first and foremost, it's got John Carpenter's name attached. The man is a legend among genre fans.
- The film is being released two weeks before Halloween, probably the best time on the calendar to unspool a horror movie.
- It's being edited by Dennis Virkler, a veteran with such films like Burnt Offerings, Tales of the Crypt, The Hunt for Red October, The Fugitive, and Collateral Damage under his belt. (I won't hold it against him that he was also the editor for Batman Forever, Batman & Robin, Daredevil and The Chronicles of Riddick. LOL!)
- Michael Diner is the art director, another important role in such a film. Diner cut his teeth as an assistant art director on The X-Files, and has done mostly television work since then, but he's slowly getting into motion pictures. His first feature film was Christopher Nolan's Insomnia. I'd say we're good to go with Diner.
- Production designer is Graeme Murray. Sound familiar? Well he should, you slackers! He's the PD for Smallville! LOL He also worked on Carpenter's The Thing as the set decorator, and PD'd for a TON of X Files episodes.
- Set Designer is Nancy Anna Brown. She's relatively new in the biz, but with films like The Core, Paycheck, Fantastic Four, and The Pink Panther under her belt, she must be doing something right. Oh wait... I missed one. She was also the set designer for X-Men 2. *giggle*
- The special effects house is Hydraulx, who also did the SFX for Torque, T-3, The Day After tomorrow, and Constantine. Fabricators are Barry Hebein and Harry Tomsic, both of whom have a lot of background in television with shows like The X-Files, Millennium, The Lone Gunman, Twilight Zone, Babylon 5, Harsh Realm and Tru Calling. Hebein also worked on the special effects for... [wait for it] X-Men 2. LOL
- Visual effects team is lead by Chris Watts. His creds include Demolition Man, Gattaca, The Insider, The Day After Tomorrow, and Harry Potter. Designers are brothers Greg and Colin Strause, both of whom worked as a team on films like Volcano, Titanic, Galaxy Quest, Band of Brothers, T3, The Day After Tomorrow, Constantine, and XXX-2.
- In the Hollywood-really-is-a-small-town dept, Sean Will is the lead scene painter. His creds include The X-Files, The Omen, X-Men 2, I, Robot and House, M.D. Sally Hudson is the lead graphic designer, with creds including The X-Files, Freddy Vs. Jason, I, Robot, Catwoman (ouch) and Elektra. Oh yeah, and of course X-Men 2. LMFAO!! Some things are just too funny.
Aight, looks like there's a good team here. The prod budget is around $18M. General rule of thumb is that a film should gross at LEAST twice its production budget to break even. If they can do three times that, the studio will be happy. Anything more than that, and they'll be dancing in the streets. The Fog has John Carpenter's name associated with it, a great crew behind the cameras, a pretty decent script (from what I've been able to tell), and it has a cast with a built-in fan following. If it doesn't make $50M domestic, I'll be very surprised. I'm curious to see who they get to compose the sound track though. It's an important aspect of the film, and it doesn't look like they've got anybody hired yet. Curious.
