CRIMSON PEAK was one of the highly anticipated horror flicks of 2015--people clamored for months in anticipation for the movie. And now that it entered the box office scene this weekend: Flop. Flip. No go..The movie is going to finish a weak fourth place. After all that hype and hope.
What did it?
Perhaps you can look to no other source of information than Guillermo del Toro himself..
Last week in the media run up to the film's grand opening Friday, del Toro did an interview with the popular film site IGN. Asked about whether CRIMSON PEAK was a horror movie, he responded in kind,
Crimson Peak is not a horror movie but it has more to the tone of a fairytale or a gothic romance, sort of a female-centric tale, than Haunted Mansion which is a ride and has to be fun and scary in a Disney way.
He went on,
It’s like if you recoil when you hear “fairytale” but you watch Pan’s Labyrinth. You’re not going to be watching Sleepless in Seattle if I’m directing it. It’s a blood soaked romance, but there is romance. It’s a strangely… It’s a psychological tale. I think if you go in expecting non-stop scares or for it to function as a horror movie, you will not engage the movie into what it’s trying to be which is a square out, lavish, gothic romance. A little more female-centric, a little more violent and a little more sexy than normal, but other than that, it’s a very classical production.
Commentary was immediate and unkind.
Some choice words from readers reacting:
wow i was excited to see this this weekend after reading this tho I will not be seeing it I thought this was gonna be a good haunted house type movie
x x
As beautiful as it was, it bored me to tears.
x x
He's 100% right unfortunately.. Have just left the cinema and wish I'd have seen this article first.
x x
Is he trying to make people like me not wanting to go see it?
I am not looking for a romance movie, but a horror.
O well, there is 2 ticket sales gone for you Del Toro.
A few reviews did not help, like this one from FORBES saying the movie was so bad it was scary.
This is very different from the May media blitz where we were being inundated with articles asking if CRIMSON PEAK was the scariest movie of 2015.
All of the word of mouth, bad social media presence, and potentially just a bad movie (that's always in the eye of the beholder) has led to the downfall of CRIMSON PEAK, a film I figured months ago would have dominated the October box office.
According to estimates, the film had at least a 10-12% drop off in box office sales from Friday night to Saturday night, a clear indication that word of mouth spread fast and people realized the kid friendly GOOSEBUMPS held more delight and scares than del Toro's romance..