Now then, I am all for parodies when they poke fun at something that has taken over the world to such a destructive degree that Twilight-mania has swept over all of us, so the newest addition to the spoof-genre that brought us such atrocities as Epic Movie and Superhero Movie wasn’t quite as unwelcome as the majority of its generic predecessors.
And it seems I wasn’t the only one to think that way, as Variety have now confirmed that Vampires Suck has posted figures of $4m for its midweek opening night across 2,978 locations.
The film is an unashamed spoof of the Twilight series, as well as other films and franchises that have reared their heads in the wake of Stephenie Meyer’s success, and stars Jenn Proske, Matt Lanter and Diedrich Bader.
Seems that the Wednesday opening strategy has paid off for Twentieth Century Fox, as they look to steal first march on the competition opening into the weekend, including Miramax’s The Switch, Warner Bros’ Lottery Ticket, The Weinstein Co’s Piranha 3D and Nanny McPhee and The Big Bang.
Somewhat incredibly, the film managed to oust The Expendables into second place on the Box Office purse list for the day, with the muscle-bound actioner posting just the $3 million – perhaps, as Variety suggest, it is something to do with those members of the young teen demographic who are looking for some brainless fun before they have to head back to school.
Personally, I think you have to look towards the fact that mimicry (and in this case mockery) is the greatest form of flattery- I would speculate that an awful lot of Twilight fans will be drawn to the film to see just how directors Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer have handled the object of their immeasurable obsession. I know if something very dear to me was being besmirched I’d want to see exactly how…
The news is even more impressive considering that it was reported yesterday that an incomplete version of the film which leaked to the net just over a month ago has now been viewed 100,000 times.
I haven’t seen it yet, but I do own an Unlimited Card for my local cinema, so when it does hit British screens I will likely donate a couple of hours to it. I can only hope that the film doesn’t follow exactly the same style as the Movie movies, which took the model for spoof comedy offered by Airplane and Hot Shots and mangled it, stripping story away to the point where all that is on show is a series of skits with limited appeal to anyone with half a brain for a good joke. If they can avoid that, then who knows what kind of figures Vampires Suck might make from British vamp-cynics when it makes its way over here.
