Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
Rate Movie[Total: 7 Average: 3]
- Directed By: Paul Weitz
- Written By: Paul Weitz, Brian Helgeland, Darren Shan
- Release Date: October 23, 2009
- Domestic Distributor: Universal
- Cast: John C. Reilly, Josh Hutcherson, Chris Massoglia
Box Office Info:
| Budget: $40 million | Financed by: Universal; Relativity |
|---|---|
| Domestic Gross: $13,869,515 | Overseas Gross: $25,362,598 |
In 2005 Universal purchased the rights to a dozen books in the Cirque Du Freak series with plans to turn this property into a franchise. Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant was equally co-financed for $40 million between Universal and Relativity. Universal originally planned on an early 2010 release, but shifted the picture forward to October 23, 2009 as the studio’s Halloween entry. Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant also opened a month before the vampire behemoth franchise The Twilight Saga: New Moon — which oddly enough was directed by Paul Weitz’s brother Chris.
Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant bowed against Saw VI, Astro Boy and the barely wide release of Amelia. The movie was tracking poorly up to its release and received mostly poor reviews and opened lower than its low expectations at $6,293,205 — placing #7 for the weekend led by Paranormal Activity. The film showed little staying power and declined 50.8% in its second frame to $3,098,185 and sank 63.1% in its third weekend to $1,143,905. Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant closed its domestic run after just 5 weeks with $13,869,515.
Universal put the film out overseas to weak numbers, with $6.4 million from Japan as the strongest territory and the overseas total was a poor $25.3 million — which would kill off the potential series. The worldwide cume was $39.2 million and Universal would see returned about $21.5 million after theaters take their percentage of the gross — leaving much of the global P&A expenses in the red and the budget untouched by the theatrical receipts.