2 ‘all time’ being the last 20
years when, surprisingly, such records began1.
3
Sterling is worth $1.6 USD. The UK/US population ratio is 1:5. To buttress the
point The
Woman in Black was released on 457 screens in the UK
and 2855 in the US; a ration of 1:6.
In actuality The
Woman in Black has earned $54m in America4.
That’s not bad but it’s not the highest grossing horror film in the US. Not
ever and not even this year5.
Back in Blighty production house Hammer Films
was so ecstatic they’ve announced a sequel6. The reader is to be
reminded of similar ghost stories that were more successful –The Others 2001 and The Sixth Sense 1999 – and the sequels
that followed them.
The
Woman in Black by Susan Hill was published in 1983. It has
since been adapted for radio and television. It is the second longest running
stage play in the history of London’s West End7. If JK Rowling is indeed
richer than Queen Elizabeth then why can’t other writers jump on that money
train? Hammer Films have press ganged Susan Hill to collaborate on the sequel.
There’s no police report to suggest that Hammer knocked her on the head but
there’s more than one way to skin a cat.
In 1993 Demolition
Man opened at #1. It went on to gross $58m domestic ($92m
inflation adjusted). Its total international box office was $159m8
($253m) Producer Joel Silver heralded it as a success but the LA Times9
reported production and marketing costs at $97m ($154m).
There hasn’t been a sequel.
Hammer’s boast is that of the tallest midget.
In a century of cinema the records they cite go back a mere 20 years. They don’t
even include Hammer’s own heyday of 1955-1974. The success of The Woman in Black is
due to Daniel Radcliffe. This is a star driven vehicle – and stars demand star
salaries. Whatever the production and marketing costs were Radcliffe is sure to
have negotiated a percentage of the gross.
Without Radcliffe Hammer wouldn’t have had
anything to boast about. This film is more The
Haunting 1999
than it is The Innocents 1961. It is special
effects, CGi and jump scares. Radcliffe brought in the Harry Potter crowd but he won’t be in the sequel. There won’t be a
30 year old novel and a 25 year old stage play to draw in the pensioners.
The
Woman in Black is a conjuror’s trick but the kids at the
birthday party can see right through it. The adult version was made for TV and
can be seen on Youtube.
It’s worth the price of a computer.
43%
|
|
67
|
|
64
|
|
62
|
|
63
|
|
66
|
Read more Thrill Fiction: Attack the Block
5 2012 box office
chart Box Office Mojo
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