Johnny Depp's attempt to play every iconic figure from the entertainment world of America, circa 20th century, may be slowing down and not thanks to Depp getting older. Following the nostalgia quotient of "Dark Shadows" and the upcoming "The Lone Ranger" was the planned remake of "The Thin Man" in which Depp was to take on the role of coolly sophisticated amateur crime solver Nick Charles.
The budget for Depp's next dip into the wayback pool reportedly hovers around the 100 million dollar mark. Considering that Nick and his wife Nora infamously lead high near-1% lifestyles marked by fancy cars, champagne, tuxedos and such, that budget could quite easily sneak higher just by virtue of making the ambiance more authentic. "Dark Shadows" got crushed at the box office and it was not just a case of a vampire being the victim of collateral damage from all that fighting in New York City taking place between caped men and legions from another realm.
"Dark Shadows" failed to connect at the box office with either those who grew up on the soap opera or younger viewers who are enamored of everything vampiric. In fact, the failure of Johnny Depp, who was able to turn interminably boring pictures about pirates into some of the biggest box office hits of all time, to make "Dark Shadows" into a monster hit may really be the big story of the summer.
How is it possible for a movie with such a big star that is about the hottest subject in American pop culture right now-vampires-to fail so spectacularly? If Depp couldn't bring moviegoers into the theater to watch vampires, it must say something. But about what? Vampire popularity or Depp's popularity.
Most assuredly the makers of "The Thin Man" have to be hoping that the future course of events pinpoints the lackluster reception of "Dark Shadows" as the beginning of the end for sub-part vampire projects to achieve massive popularity. After all, "The Thin Man" has a substantially thinner built-in audience and if Depp is on the way down, the big mystery at the end may be why it was ever ultimately decided to go ahead with remaking the movie in the first place.
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