How could a movie based around a cult TV show that no one really remembers all that fondly be turned into a summer blockbuster hit? Well, for one you pair up Tim Burton and Johnny Depp, and then you (finally) release a trailer that is not only pretty rock solid, but seems to finds the top talents comfortably in their wheelhouse. Is it still a bit too quirky and strange? You might think so, but even the competition knows better, and it was earlier this week Paramount decided to get out of the way, moving "The Dictator" back five days from May 11th, having it open the following Wednesday on May 16th, effectively ending what would've been one of the summer's biggest showdowns at the box office. So with all that preamble out of the way, let's get to the movie, shall we?
Here's what you need to know: The story follows Barnabas Collins (Depp) who breaks the heart of the witch Angelique Brouchard (Eva Green) in 1752 and, in her fury, she turns him into a vampire and buries him alive. He wakes up in the 1970s, only to find his manor in ruins and his family in disrepair, to the point that matriarch Elizabeth Collins (Michelle Pfeiffer) has called in a psychiatrist (Helena Bonham Carter) to help. So yeah, it's a mashup of a period movie, vampire flick, horror and comedy all in one, yet somehow it all seems to click from what we've seen thus far.
These new images from Kinopoisk give another peek at what to expect, and it appears that the costume- and set-design departments had a ball. It all looks pretty outrageously decadent, which fits right into the classic Burton/Depp mold. "Dark Shadows" opens on May 11th.
