Monday Morning Quarterback Part II

By BOP Staff

August 23, 2011

This is what 'goodwill' looks like.

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Shalimar Sahota: I also agree with Brett about the "largely forgotten" tag. The original film has one of the best posters ever for a horror film and was one of the reasons it was picked up at the local video library so many years ago. Still, this result is pretty poor, which is a shame because it was the best reviewed film of the weekend. I'm reminded of the remake of Let the Right One In, Let Me In, which also had great reviews but ended up suffering at the box office. Maybe releasing Fright Night a little later, probably closer to Halloween, might have worked out better. Still, the low budget means that it should make its budget back once worldwide totals come in. It is a largely unnecessary remake, but I actually really enjoyed Craig Gillespie's Fright Night and would recommend people go see it, if only for David Tennant. It also proves to me that Gillespie can do justice to an adaptation of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

Reagen Sulewski: It's really difficult to lose money on horror films these days - the audience doesn't care much about the cast, meaning the budget doesn't have to be ridiculous. As long as you're not expecting the next Saw, these are can't miss projects.

That doesn't say a lot for the stars though, and Colin Farrell is either fine with where his career has plateaued or angrily (and possibly drunkenly) cursing out his agent this morning.

Max Braden: I can understand the umbrage, but Kim is right in that the market the movie is after is going to be too young to know about the first Fright Night. So I can see how this movie coming along looks like just another vampire movie trying to cash in on a phase. I think the difference between this opening take and Conan's is the difference in marketing, since I saw a lot more TV ads for Conan than Fright Night. And I'm sure this is just an of-the-moment thought, but while August is a good time for creepy thrillers (The Sixth Sense, The Others), I'm not in the mood for Halloween genre films when we're still in the summer summer season. Wait eight weeks to release it and I think you see a slight boost.




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Jason Lee: Maybe I'm who Kim was thinking about when she called it "largely forgotten," as I'd never heard of the original film. I think the main problem with the 2011 remake was that had the title "Fright Night" but didn't seem scary at all. For people who weren't interested based on the 1985 film, there wasn't much in the trailers or commercials that were going to make you open your wallet, unless you wanted to see what happens when a high school kid picks a fight with Colin Farrell.

Kim Hollis: I want to make it clear that the original Fright Night is a movie I remember extremely fondly, and Chris Sarandon is absolutely amazing in it. I was all about seeing the remake because I dig Colin Farrell and David Tennant. I just don't realistically believe that most 20-somethings and younger know what Fright Night was. In other words, Jason is right.

David Mumpower: First of all, the definitive Chris Sarandon film is The Princess Bride. I agree that he's fantastic in the original Fright Night but come on. With regards to some people being outraged over people not knowing the film and Jason acknowledging he's among them, Fright Night is a blueprint example of a cult classic that seems dated in every way yet maintains a fond place in the hearts of those of us who discovered it on the pay channels back in the day. Those are not the best bets for remakes and Disney recognized this by hedging their bets with Colin Farrell, someone who should be more of a draw than this. Unfortunately, it's a vampire period that doesn't romanticize vampires, which is like doing a romantic comedy that ends with the lead characters in divorce court. It's simply not what mainstream consumers want these days and that's why it has only done this much rather than broken out. I'm not sure that a mid-October release would have mitigated that fact by much although I think it would have done at least this well, so it probably was a better gamble.


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