If you’re making a horror movie based around a beautiful young woman with an appetite for men, there’s only one woman to cast.
Megan Fox.
Yet the new horror comedy “Jennifer’s Body,” written by “Juno” scribe Diablo Cody and starring the beguiling Fox, struggled to come in fifth place over the just-passed weekend.
The horror film earned $6.8 million on 2,702 screens, according to boxofficemojo.com.
If the combination Fox, Cody and gore can’t attract a crowd, could the horror genre be in trouble?
Witness recent busts like “Sorority Row” and “Halloween II,” a pair of low-ish budget, no-star vehicles that still crashed and burned at the box office despite alluring casts (“Row”) or a built in fan base (the “Halloween” franchise.
This doesn’t bode well for “Zombieland,” opening Oct. 2. The film’s trailer is a hoot, and the tagline “nut up or shut up” should have horror devotees flocking to the theater. But zombie movies don’t make big coin. They typically generate modest ticket sales before enjoying a long shelf life on DVD.
The ultimate test could be the upcoming “Saw V,” which should print money like the previous installments have done. But if a “Saw” sequel can’t grab movie goers, especially during the Halloween season, it could be time to reconsider the public’s craving for some old fashioned bloodshed.
(Photo: Megan Fox stars as a high schooler with an appetite for young men in “Jennifer’s Body”/Fox Atomic)
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
The film’s title is apropos, considering that her body is the only thing that Fox has going for her.
She worked fine as eye candy in the Transformers films, but just because teenage boys like oogling her silicone-enhanced body, doesn’t mean we want to see her trying to act her way through a star vehicle.
And when it comes to the horror genre, nobody really cares if it has a clever script, what really matters to genre fans is that it’s scary. And nothing in the trailers or the reviews indicate that it’s particularly scary, so people stayed away.
‘Body’ doesn’t have a scare in it … very true.
But as a horror movie buff I was glad to see a script that wasn’t insulting, even if it tried a mite too hard to be clever.
As an outside observer, I would say the horror genre’s biggest problem is over-saturation. It feels there is a new horror release every week, strange since the real season for it (Halloween) is a month away. Maybe fans are biding time for Hallow’s Eve for a good fright, or maybe they are drowning in a sea of half-hearted movies that don’t do much to separate themselves from the pack.
Keep in mind, I’m no fan of horror. But maybe it would do the studios good to start launching more selectively, or at least give releases some breathing room.
Most of these movies are dreck. I was lucky enough to see “Paranormal Activity” a year or so back and it was the most terrifying experience I’ve ever had in a theater. Hands down the scariest film I’ve seen since “The Exorcist”. Low budget but damn if it wasn’t effective (in fact, that’s what works for it….feels real). And see it in a theater with a good sound system. The sound editing deserves some Oscar nods, it is THAT good. Now I have to go turn the lights on all over my house, thanks.
BTW, I didn’t sleep for a week, no BS.
JohnFN – great point … am mad at myself for not thinking of it.
What other niche genre has seen so many entries of late? It’s one reason District 9 scored so well … when was the last true sci-fi feature?
We made a beeline for “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” yesterday, and I was surprised at how good it was. Not as good as “Up,” but mighty good fun.
Seems to me there was a late-summer/early-fall dearth of family fare that “Cloudy” satisfied perfectly and at just the right time. A couple of weeks ago, my mom wanted to take my 7-year-old son to a movie. We’d seen “Up” twice and (er… ahem…) G.I. Joe once, so the only potential options were “9″ and, God help us, “G Force.” Christian’s review ruled out “9″ (for now), so grandma and grandson ended up at “G Force” while I excused myself and bought a ticket for “Inglourious Basterds.” It was a win-win for everyone, except maybe my mom, who politely described “G Force” as “cute.”
Now, look at the weekend top five and what do you see? Family animated comedy, Soderbergh farce, Tyler Perry family comedy, RomCom, and a snarky horror comedy. It just wasn’t Megan’s week. I’m sure Jennifer’s Body will do boffo business on DVD.
I couldn’t agree with JohnFNWayne more. Too many horrors in the theaters lately.