Tim Burton's Dark Shadows

[DarthSkywalker]

Variety reported the budget as $60M. While it's easy money for WB I seriously doubt it's high on their list of priorities. I wouldn't be worried about the lack of promo, this isn't a 'big movie'.

Except I think it kind of is because of Depp. This is the kind of film they can make a ton off with little risk.

 

[Spider-ManHero12]

Hope we get a trailer soon!

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

Variety reported the budget as $60M. While it's easy money for WB I seriously doubt it's high on their list of priorities. I wouldn't be worried about the lack of promo, this isn't a 'big movie'.

Tim Burton + Johnny Depp + vampires + quite a prolific release date (May is a significant time) = a 'big movie'.

It may not be a Dark Knight Rises for them... but it is no doubt high up there on their priority list.

 

[ddddeeee]

I don't agree. Did you see that picture of Depp covered in blood? Couple that with Eva Green calling the script very violent, a rather small (by Burton's standard) budget and Burton's blood fetish and you've got yourself an R rating.

Don't get me wrong, I cannot wait for this movie. But it seems pretty obvious to me that this movie isn't a blockbuster, it'll do well no doubt, but just because it has a May release date doesn't mean WB are setting it up as a tentpole release.

If anything the release date shows they're trying to counter the blockbuster season in a similar vein to Priest this year, but obviously with inevitably better results.

 

[Sawyer]

Seriously, is this movie even a real thing?! I feel like I'm the victim of some large-scale practical joke here!

 

[Call Me Darkman]

we'll probably get a bunch of last minute trailers and tv spots.

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

Perhaps Helena Bonham Carter was on to something when she said it was going to be a difficult movie to market.

WB may be struggling with an effective approach.

 

[El Payaso]

Seriously, is this movie even a real thing?! I feel like I'm the victim of some large-scale practical joke here!

I'm feeling the same here.

 

[Lasirius]

I don't agree. Did you see that picture of Depp covered in blood? Couple that with Eva Green calling the script very violent, a rather small (by Burton's standard) budget and Burton's blood fetish and you've got yourself an R rating.

Don't get me wrong, I cannot wait for this movie. But it seems pretty obvious to me that this movie isn't a blockbuster, it'll do well no doubt, but just because it has a May release date doesn't mean WB are setting it up as a tentpole release.

If anything the release date shows they're trying to counter the blockbuster season in a similar vein to Priest this year, but obviously with inevitably better results.

Sweeny Todd had blood all over the place and it had a twisted plot-line. But who really knows? This movie might not even get released.

 

[Sawyer]

Perhaps Helena Bonham Carter was on to something when she said it was going to be a difficult movie to market.

WB may be struggling with an effective approach.

Anything is better than nothing. And that's exactly what we've got right now.

I'm starting to fear that this will get pushed back.

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

Tim Burton's last Warner Bros. production... Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street... only recieved its trailer about 2 and a half months before the movies release.

Not to mention it was criticised for its marketing campaign.

Just to give us a little perspective here.

 

[Sawyer]

Criticized how?

 

[Lasirius]

I thought it was a very successful film.

 

[Evil Twin]

Criticized how?

Criticized for hiding the fact that it was a musical. (Although, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Sweeney Todd was a WB film.) Edit: NM, looks like it was a Dreamworks/WB co-production. Still, it made $150 million WW vs. a $50 million budget. Dark Shadows has to be a much easier sell, even if they just sell it as Sleepy Hollow 2.

I suspect that Warner Bros. probably scales their promotional budgets to the budgets of their films. They'll get to promoting it in plenty of time. I doubt they'll spring for a Super Bowl spot, but I'd say that it's likely that there will be at least a trailer by Valentine's Day. It's not like there haven't been photos released already and there's plenty of time to advertise summer releases.

I see this as easy money for WB. Tim Burton + Johnny Depp + Vampires released the weekend after a big testosterone fest seems like perfect counterprogramming.

 

[Crockett]

Tim Burton's last Warner Bros. production... Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street... only recieved its trailer about 2 and a half months before the movies release.

WB does have a tendency to follow a similar path when marketing Burton's movies, even Corpse Bride I believe didn't get a trailer until a few months before it'll come out.

I can agree that it could be tricky regarding how to market this movie, although they could just play the easy card and show that Depp is the lead in this and Burton is directing it and it'll guarantee that the general audience will be intrigued by this. At this point, I just want something more.

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

Criticized how?

Although it is from wikipedia... this is a pretty good summary...

The film's marketing has been criticized for not advertising it as a musical. Michael Halberstam of the Writers' Theatre said, "By de-emphasizing the score to the extent they did in the trailer, it is possible the producers were condescending to us – a tactic which cannot ultimately end in anything but tears."[33] In the UK, a number of audience members walked out of the film on realizing it was a musical, and complaints that advertisements for the film were deliberately misleading were made to both the Advertising Standards Authority and Trading Standards agency.[34][35] The studios involved opted for a low-key approach to their marketing. Producer Walter Parkes stated, "All these things that could be described as difficulties could also be the movie's greatest strengths." Warner Bros. felt it should take a similar approach to marketing as with The Departed, with little early exposure and discouraging talk of awards.[36]

Criticized for hiding the fact that it was a musical. (Although, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Sweeney Todd was a WB film.) Edit: NM, looks like it was a Dreamworks/WB co-production. Still, it made $150 million WW vs. a $50 million budget. Dark Shadows has to be a much easier sell, even if they just sell it as Sleepy Hollow 2.

Yeah I forgot to mention Dreamworks.

Although it certainly had a tough time at the US box office.

 

[terry78]

They will definitely try to cater to the vampire crowd, the emo/goth crowd, and the horror crowd with this one, with three different commercial types for each more than likely.

 

[ddddeeee]

Sweeney Todd was a unique case. Musical fans would have been put off by the horror element and horror fans put off by the musical element. All things considered it did very well I think.

 

[DACrowe]

Sweeney Todd is a masterpiece. It married Stephen Sondheim's greatest musical with 1930s-styled horror filmmaking for a perfect experience, IMO.

I also know of few musical fans who were put off given Sweeney Todd's 30-year pedigree and reputation. Not unless they're those who were angry that non-singers like Depp and Carter were cast as the leads or tweens who only associate 'musical" with Wicked and Glee. But even those type of complaints have seemed few and far between.

 

[DACrowe]

Sweeney Todd is a masterpiece. It married Stephen Sondheim's greatest musical with 1930s-styled horror filmmaking for a perfect experience, IMO.

I also know of few musical fans who were put off given Sweeney Todd's 30-year pedigree and reputation. Not unless they're those who were angry that non-singers like Depp and Carter were cast as the leads or tweens who only associate 'musical" with Wicked and Glee. But even those type of complaints have seemed few and far between.

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

Dark Shadows: The Art of the Film will be published on May 8...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1781162557/wwwdarkshacouk/

Nothing too interesting but more proof that this film still exists.

Also this is a great site for news on the movie, with a few sound bites from Christopher Lee and the costume designer etc.

http://darkshadowsnews.blogspot.com/

 

[Call Me Darkman]

WB does have a tendency to follow a similar path when marketing Burton's movies

In the last 26 years, Tim Burton has made 10 films with WB, including some of his most successful movies. So, I wouldn't call this a pattern. I just think they're not stressing out yet because "Dark Shadows" is counter-programming for "The Avengers." They'll start promoting it like a month or two before its release.

even Corpse Bride I believe didn't get a trailer until a few months before it'll come out.

The "Corpse Bride" trailer premiered with the release of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." So, considering that movie's success and the target audience associated, it was probably a good place to start.

 

[Crockett]

The "Corpse Bride" trailer premiered with the release of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." So, considering that movie's success and the target audience associated, it was probably a good place to start.

I'm not complaining in any way, they have their own way of marketing Burton's movies and most of the time it worked. They even put a lot of effort, marketing-wise into Mars Attack! despite that in the end the movie wasn't a box-office success. There's still plenty of time, even marketing 2 months before it comes out can be effective. I can understand the need of getting something from the movie at this moment, heck I feel the same way but there's nothing we can do other than sit tight and be patient.

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

From Entertainment Weekly's new 2012 preview issue.

Tim Burton Talks Dark Shadows Post Production


MTV's Movie Blog caught up with director Tim Burton to get an update of how post production work is progressing on the Dark Shadows feature film. "We're editing and doing effects," he explains. "It's not an effects-heavy picture, but it's still got stuff in there."

As in previous interviews, Burton again spoke of the challenge of capturing the right mood for the story: "Dark Shadows... was a very hermetically sealed world. It's mainly the internal family melodrama. You get a little bit of the sense of the world, but it's like Grey Gardens, where these people are in their own sort of world." Finding the right people was crucial: "It's not something that a lot of people necessarily know... I felt really lucky, because the cast is really good. People like Michelle [Pfeiffer] (Elizabeth Collins Stoddard) grew up watching it. Some of the cast knew about it. Some didn't, but they were all game for it — getting into the weird spirit of what Dark Shadows was."


Speaking about the original show, Burton said: "It has a weird sense of heightened melodrama... It had a weird seriousness, but it was funny in a way that wasn't really funny. We just had to feel our way through it to find the tone. We didn't do any real rehearsals, because the cast all came in at different times." The film's cast shot proved to bean important bonding exercise for the actors: "There was an old photo of the [original] cast which I always remembered... Before shooting, we got the whole cast together to take a similar shot so everyone could see each other and get that vibe. That helped set the tone more than anything."

And in other Dark Shadows movie news, the new issue of Entertainment Weekly magazine includes the film in its preview of 2012's cinema and features a new production still of Johnny Depp as Barnabas alongside co-star Michelle Pfeiffer.

http://darkshadowsnews.blogspot.com/2012/01/tim-burton-talks-dark-shadows-post.html

 

[Sawyer]

Depp looks awesome. So glad we've finally got something.