Hollywood has repeatedly peddled the apocalyptic threat from aliens, machines, comets, viruses and zombies, but who was watching the vampires?
Never exactly absent from the entertainment scene, those eternal bloodsuckers lately have infiltrated everything from big screens and little screens to bookstore shelves, clothing racks, download services, video games and video, record and jewelry stores.
By the numbers
Film: $3 billion
Publishing: $1.6 billion
Merchandising: $600 million
TV, DVDs: $1.2 billion
Other: $600 million
Just this week, the Fox/New Regency “Twilight” parody “Vampires Suck” grossed $20 million, and 5 million regular viewers are rabidly following HBO’s newest hit, “True Blood,” as it swoops toward its season 3 finale Sept. 12. Meanwhile, Justin Cronin’s “The Passage,” Stephenie Meyer’s “Breaking Dawn” and Charlaine Harris’ “Dead and Gone” hover on best-seller lists.
These charming, deadly immortals are everywhere. And as a result, they’re spilling as much green as red — about $7 billion since the “Twilight” film franchise bowed less than two years ago, according to THR estimates.
What started with some ancient, hysterical myths and a pair of spooky 19th century tales — John Polidori’s “The Vampyre” (1819) and Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” (1897) — has bloomed into an entire inexhaustible industry. (Find out which vampire movies we’d like to see remade — and who should star — at the end of this article.)
“By starting with one simple mythological creature that’s been part of our literary universe for centuries, you can create a story that has it all: romance, horror, action, special effects, sex, epic love, wish fulfillment, romantic leading men, delicious bad-boy villains, female badasses, damsels in distress, death, monsters and, ultimately, the perfectly flawed hero who would give it all up if it meant they wouldn’t have to spend eternity alone,” says Julie Plec, writer and exec producer of the CW series “The Vampire Diaries.” It doesn’t get more universal than that.”
That gets to the bloody heart of it. Because they’re not specific to genre, vampires have the freedom to roam not just across mediums but from romance to horror to political commentary to humor. Their versatility is endless, swinging from chaste innocence to sexy violence, so the potential audience is everyone.
No other subject has sunk its teeth into pop culture quite so pervasively.
Let’s start with the current king. Globally, the three “Twilight” films, released in 2008, 2009 and 2010, have a $1.76 billion cume at the global boxoffice. The first two each has grossed another $160 million or so in home video sales (the third hits Blu-ray/DVD in September). That’s more than $2 billion right there.
If the coming two installments of “Breaking Dawn” — which Summit will release in November 2011 and November 2012 — do similar business in theaters and the home-entertainment market, that would add another $1.7 billion to the coffers.
And that’s just from the movie versions of Meyer’s colossally successful book series.
With “Twilight” riding herd, vampire movies have accounted for an average of 3% of total boxoffice the past three years. So, for example, with “New Moon,” “Underworld: Rise of the Lycans” and “Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant” totaling $356.7 million domestic in 2009, that amounted to 3.4% of the industry’s $10.6 billion U.S. haul that year.
The other major flank of the current undead siege consists of “Vampire Diaries” and “True Blood,” HBO’s most successful property since “The Sopranos.” Pinpointing the value of a monster television property is harder than driving a stake through the heart of a nasty beastie, but the longer a show is on the air (at least up to seven seasons), the more money it is going to throw off in ancillaries.
Few TV shows make money upfront; almost all are in deficit until the aftermarket kicks in. Both shows have lots of life left in them and huge fan bases, so sources see buckets of cash eventually pouring into the coffers of the “Diaries” producers, Warner Bros. and CBS, which also happen to co-own the CW.
“True Blood” is harder to quantify because some of its value is in brand-building and bringing more subscribers to the premium cable service. Even so, estimates from two outside sources suggest that if the shows last five years on their respective outlets, domestic and foreign licensing arrangements could generate $100 million-$125 million from “Vampire Diaries” and $50 million-$75 million from “Blood
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