How Much Will Vampires Suck?

August 18, 2010

The latest Friedberg / Seltzer film, Vampires Suck, opened tonight trying to get a jump on the weekend traffic. And there's a lot of traffic at multiplexes this weekend. But will this strategy work, or will it just result in bad box office numbers coming out sooner?

Vampires Suck is a name that practically dares critics to give it a bad review, and so far every single critic on Rotten Tomatoes has taken them up on that dare. Granted, there are only 15 reviews so far, but all of them are negative, many of them vitriolically so. I assume the film will earn at least one positive review sooner or later, but this film is an strong contender for worst movie of the year.

As for its box office chances, those are not that much better. First of all, the Friedberg / Seltzer filmography has shown a steady decline since Date Movie came out in 2006. That film wasn't a big hit, but thanks to a very low budget, it showed a profit. However, by the time Disaster Movie came out, even most early fans of their work had given up on their pop culture reference laden pseudo-spoofs and it was a bomb. In the two years since then, I don't think their absence from theaters has made people grow fond of their particular brand of filmmaking.

There is some good news, namely the lack of big name competition. Yes, there are four other films opening widish, if not truly wide, but this one is the biggest at nearly 3000 theaters. Plus, as sad as it may seem, this film might have the most buzz behind it. (The new releases really are that weak.)

Best case scenario has Vampires Suck earning more tonight than Disaster Movie made during its opening weekend, and making more over the weekend than that film made in total. On the other hand, it could finish with less at the box office. I'm going with $4 million tonight, just over $2 million tomorrow, and $12 million over the weekend. I am a little more bearish than most, but hopefully I'm still overestimating the film's chances.


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Filed under: Vampires Suck