Yesterday we saw some release date maneuvers in our beloved genre; the oft-moved APOLLO 18 was slotted into the AUGUST 26th date, while FINAL DESTINATION 5 was inserted into AUGUST 12th, which, as Jared pointed out, squared it off against the highly-anticipated (and quite scary-looking) DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK. Well, the latter had blinked and shuffled off.
It would appear as though FilmDistrict, the distributor holding DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK‘s rights, would prefer to face APOLLO 18, as they’ve moved the Guillermo del Toro-produced remake into that AUGUST 26th spot. Now DARK and APOLLO will go mano-a-mano on that last weekend, which usually marks the final gasp of the summer movie season. (Although it’s proven to be a popular weekend for horror flicks.) Meanwhile, FINAL DESTINATION 5 has the AUGUST 12th date to itself (in the horror arena, anyway), but sees competition the very next week from FRIGHT NIGHT 3D.
The thing I’m most curious about is this: Why move FINAL DESTINATION 5 from its original AUGUST 26th date at all? The last entry opened two years ago on AUGUST 28th, and it made $27 million – on its way to a $66 million cume. Worked that time, why wouldn’t it this time?
Meanwhile it’ll be very interesting to see if FilmDistrict can do with DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK what they’ve done with the incredibly-profitable INSIDIOUS. One thing is for sure: August is a very busy month for horror.
Katie Holmes