Hollywood gore suffers from box office anemia
Studios are left bleeding because audiences find that the chill is gone.
By Rachel Abramowitz and Sheigh Crabtree,
June 9, 2007
Call it a market correction. Call it a slump. Call it audience fatigue with a subpar rash of crazed killers, wanton vampires and jiggling coeds, but horror, one of Hollywood's enduring staples, is tanking.
Consider the numbers. Last year, the studios released 23 horror movies. This year the tally will be 42, nearly double, and too often the take at the box office has been anemic, leaving studios and distributors with lots of red ink gushing through the bottom line.
Remember "The Reaping," which featured double-Oscar winner Hilary Swank as a professor tormented by the return of the Bible's 10 plagues? The film landed in theaters in April, at an official cost of $40 million, though studio sources say it was closer to $65 million. Thus far it has captured only $25 million in U.S. ticket sales. Then there is the slew of clones and sequels with such titles as "The Hitcher," "Dead Silence," "The Hills Have Eyes II," and "28 Weeks Later." At the box office, they've all underperformed, none topping $30 million. "Snoop Dogg's Hood of Horror" was a real runt of the litter, earning just $25,900.
Even "gorno"
