Wes Craven Presents: They
Release Date:
November 27, 2002
What if everything that scared you in your childhood was real? That's the premise behind They, a film that will be distributed by Dimension Films, the folks who previously produced a sleeper when they released a little horror flick known as Scream. Will they be able to duplicate that success? Perhaps.
Like Scream, They takes a group of barely-known actors and throws them into a horror film with a fairly fresh and unique premise. The two main performers in the film, Laura Regan and Marc Blucas, have had some exposure with smallish parts in mainstream films, though Blucas is probably best known for his stint on Buffy as Riley, the secret military guy who also just happened to be the Slayer's hunky-but-vanilla boyfriend.
Regan will take on the part of Julia Lund, a graduate student in psychology who witnesses a terrifying scene that brings back frightening memories of her own past. It seems her childhood fear of the dark might just be caused by something real, and Julia faces a struggle to find the link between the past and the present.
They is directed by Robert Harmon, whose most recent theatrical effort was the Jean-Claude Van Damme starring vehicle Nowhere to Run, way back in 1993. Since then, Harmon has primarily been involved in television productions like Homicide: Life on the Street, Level 9 and the Emmy-nominated TV flick Gotti. More importantly, Harmon's first job as a director was on the 1986 C. Thomas Howell/Rutger Hauer movie The Hitcher, which is remembered rather fondly by fans of this particular genre.
Brendan Hood, the film's screenwriter, has only one previous credit, the made-for-TV movie The Darklings. No, I've never heard of it either.
Made on a reported budget of $17 million, They is going to depend on a fantastic marketing campaign to build interest. If Dimension can produce a creepy trailer and television ads in the vein of Jeepers Creepers, a "scary" movie (heh) that was released in a similar time frame, the studio may be looking at a winner. Of course, "may" would be the operative word here, as the portents in the crystal ball aren't looking good at this particular juncture. (Kim Hollis/BOP)
Comparison films for Wes Craven Presents: They |
Title |
Date |
Opening |
Adjusted Opening |
Screens |
PSA |
Adj PSA |
Total BO |
Adjusted Total |
Mult |
| Scream 3 |
2/4/00 | 34.71 |
38.83 |
3465 |
10017.00 |
10779.0 |
88.36 |
98.84 |
2.55 |
| Scream 2 |
12/12/97 | 33.00 |
43.35 |
2663 |
12392.00 |
15658.7 |
101.36 |
133.15 |
3.07 |
| I Still Know What You Did Last Summer |
11/13/98 | 16.50 |
21.21 |
2443 |
6754.00 |
8352.5 |
40.00 |
51.42 |
2.42 |
| Jeepers Creepers |
8/31/01 | 15.84 |
16.90 |
2944 |
5380.00 |
5522.8 |
37.81 |
40.35 |
2.39 |
| I Know What You Did Last Summer |
10/17/97 | 15.82 |
20.78 |
2524 |
6268.00 |
7920.3 |
72.22 |
94.87 |
4.57 |
| Urban Legend |
9/25/98 | 10.52 |
13.52 |
2257 |
4661.00 |
5764.1 |
38.08 |
48.95 |
3.62 |
| Valentine |
2/2/01 | 10.02 |
10.69 |
2310 |
4334.00 |
4449.1 |
20.36 |
21.73 |
2.03 |
| Urban Legend: The Final Cut |
9/22/00 | 8.51 |
9.52 |
2539 |
3352.00 |
3607.0 |
21.47 |
24.01 |
2.52 |
| Scream |
12/20/96 | 6.35 |
8.66 |
1413 |
4494.00 |
5897.1 |
103.03 |
140.56 |
16.23 |
| Screamers |
1/26/96 | 2.90 |
3.95 |
1560 |
1859.00 |
2439.4 |
5.76 |
7.85 |
1.99 |
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