Surprise!

Miramax/Dimension will release this movie on 12/25/04. (and it will be wide release.)
I think that this movie will perform like WRONG TURN

5/15


US trailer
http://www.apple.com/trailers/miramax/darkness/

$10M/$35M
not sure!

Something tells me it will make around what or less than Dracula 2000 made. That movie opened Christmas 2000.

Opening- $10.0
Total- $30.0

Giving it the benefit of the doubt, I guess. Hopefully, it's a good movie.

I saw Darkness a few years ago, here in Spain.
It`s so boring and with a stupid ending. I didn`t enjoy it.

You have GOT to be kidding me..I can't believe this thread was even started so quickly after its release was announced. I'm betting it will get a limited release like Below or Equilibrium or Highwaymen and never make $5 million.

According to the information of HSX, THE DARK will open wide, but this movie's theater count in the opening weekend will be very similar to SHALL WE DANCE's theater count in the opening weekend.
(SHALL WE DANCE opened in 1772 theaters)

To me... nothing says Christmas like...

"When a family moves into their dream house, their nightmares begin. The father's fragile health takes a turn for the worse, the mother checks out mentally, the young son is afraid of the dark...and the daughter seems to serve as the conduit between an evil entity and the physical world. Heinous acts were once left undone in the house, and the entity seeks closure."

HO HO HO!!

PS: Variety's articles overlooks the fact that Miramax just moves "Proof" and An Unfinished Life" to 2005 . (According to Miramax, "Proof" will likely be released later in 2005)



http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout ... egoryid=13
Posted: Thurs., Oct. 28, 2004, 8:59pm PT

ShowEast sees 'Darkness'

Shelved M'max pic suddenly slated for Dec. 25

By GABRIEL SNYDER


One piece of news avidly passed around the Marriott World Center didn't came from the weekly Nielsen EDI calendar update: Dimension announced Thursday that it is going out with "The Darkness" on Christmas, Saturday, Dec. 25.
While the spooky house horror pic starring Anna Paquin has been sitting on the Dimension shelf for more than three years, the dating made waves because there are already five other wide releases slated between Wednesday, Dec. 22, and Christmas Day: Fox has both adventure pic "Flight of the Phoenix" and live-action kidpic "Fat Albert"; Universal has laffer sequel "Meet the Fockers"; Buena Vista has Wes Anderson pic "The Life Aquatic"; and Warner Bros. is unspooling musical "The Phantom of the Opera" (first on 600 screens, then wider in January).

Opening in that frame in limited release are three other Miramax titles: "Proof," "Bride and Prejudice" and "An Unfinished Life." Plus MGM is launching "Hotel Rwanda" and Newmarket is unveiling "The Woodsman."

So, how is the Miramax distrib team going to find a 1,000 theaters to play "The Dark," especially in a market that will be saturated with three wide releases from the week before, including Miramax and Warners' "The Aviator"?

"I don't know what they're deal is," said Warners distrib prexy Dan Fellman of Miramax's plans for "The Dark." "Something will change."

New Line topper David Tuckerman, who will be expanding "The Sea Inside" that week, said of the Christmas crunch, "It's going to be awfully crowded at Christmas. I hope everyone gets in."

Loews head buyer Steve Bunnell said that with all the distribs who'll be vying for screens around the holiday, "I'm in denial."

Fox's Bruce Snyder, however, sounded a note of optimism. "It's six wide releases. There's enough room (in theaters). I don't know if the market can sustain them all, though."

On a somewhat related note, Miramax's increasingly heavy Christmas release schedule was accompanied by rumors that the distribution department would be shrinking, following similar downsizing of the company's production and marketing staffs. Miramax spokesman Matt Hiltzik dismissed that as speculation, however. "Our distribution needs will be addressed," he said. "We appreciate your concern."

I saw the HSX post and it only had the date. I'm sure they'll decide whether to release it wide or limited as the date approaches but Dimension Films has done this before with Below..it also suddenly appeared on the schedule and looked like it was going wide and then it only got 100 or so theatres. And I remember seeing tons of commercials around the time it came out but it still bombed. Of course, Dimension also released Scream on Christmas and it ended up doing really well, but this is a movie that has already been bumped around and thought to be STV for the last year or so and if they think that releasing it in December after the sucess of The Grudge will be as profitable as releasing it in October (a great time to release a horror movie, as we've learned) than they'll be in for a surprise. But we'll see..they have two months to promote it...we'll see if it fares much better than WEs Craven's They.

Sorry, just read the Variety article....but I still don't know about that...I remember the hubbub last year with all those Christmas releases. I remember a few of them moving before then (like The Alamo)

In fact, according to Variety, it would open in 1,000 theaters on Dec. 25.

(very similar to SCREAM)

Good, we needed another wide release on December 25th, as only Fat Albert occupies that spot. I think it could get some coin, but not alot.

Probably a stinker

As I said before, although this movie received mixed reviews, it still did good business in several international markets. Today, horror is one of the most profitable movie genres in US(even WRONG TRUN, HOUSE of 1000 CORPSES, HOUSE OF THE DEAD did respectable business), so THE DARK would do respectable business in US.

In movies.go.com, this movie's pre-release buzz factor is 4.13/5
(4 : I bet it's worth paying full piece)
http://movies.go.com/moviesdynamic/movi ... ?id=586588

There are six wide releases slated between Wednesday, Dec. 22, and Christmas Day. But only THE DARK is a horror movie, so It's a good counterprogramming.

Miramax/Dimension changes US title of this movie again......

From THE DARK to THE DARKNESS

I have seen this movie a while ago and I have to say that it is a very decent horror flick with an amazing ending which deserves success in the USA, moreso than many other lame horror licks that get released there nowadays (Darjness Falls, anyone?). I think ti will get some people in theatres, but honestly, releasing a delayed horror movie around Christmas is not the wisest idea.

My predictions:

Opening weekend (2-day) - 4.2 million

Total gross - $14 million

New US trailer
http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&id=1808411833&cf=info

The MPAA's original rating for this movie was an R (for terror/violence and language)

However, Miramax may has edited the movie for the US, because this movie is rated PG-13 now.

Intersting trailer. Seems a lot like other haunted-house films of lot, from the trailer I see a conglomeration of Boogeyman, The Grudge and Darkness Falls.

I don't think it will make a great deal at the boxoffice. My prediction:

Opening: $7 million
Total: $20 million

Trailer in apple.com
http://www.apple.com/trailers/miramax/darkness/

Just watched the trailer and it looks very good. It has a very low theater count though, so I hope it gets over 2,000 theaters atleast.

Alert: PG-13 Abuse
http://joblo.com/arrow/index.php?id=288

I have seen Darkness and there is really nothing in that that would warrant the R-rating :?

There are some banner ads of DARKNESS floating on fangoria.com, joblo.com, comingsoon.net and Yahoo.

Good sign for me.