Chris Massoglia and John C. Reilly in The Vampire's Assistant
This week Universal Studios announced a change in title and release date for one of its films. Cirque du Freak, a cinematic adaptation of the first book in Darren Shan's The Saga of Darren Shan, is getting a new name The Vampire's Assistant. Thankfully this isn't a completely random selection and that is the title of the 2nd book in the series, however, it is somewhat disconcerting - mainly due to its motivation.
The film will now be released on October 23rd, eight days before Halloween and about a month before New Moon. So they're re-branding it to try and cash-in on the Twilight saga's appeal.
This isn't new. Had the Golden Compass taken off and spawned sequels it too would've proceeded under a false moniker, the book series was in fact entitled His Dark Materials.
One last interesting tidbit regarding the clash between Twilight and The Vampire's Assistant is that they are directed by the Weitz brothers. Paul is working on The Vampire's Assistant and Chris on Twilight. Chris helmed The Golden Compass.
So is this a brother helping out a brother, hoping they could both do well and not have one of their vampire movies outshine the other, or is it just crass Hollywood marketing? Probably a little of both.
When a series of books hits the big screen fans of the series are generally filled with a strange mix of emotion running the gamut from excitement to fear to loathing. While it's hard to argue morality in Hollywood, it is within the studio's best interest to do as little to disrupt the integrity of the series in the first film to not alienate the viewers so they will return for a second.
Let's hope this title change is just an innocuous footnote in the tale of this film and not a portent of things to come. One can certainly hold out hope as a lot of talent is gathered for The Vampire's Assistant such as Weitz himself and in the cast John C. Reilly, Willem Dafoe, Salma Hayek, Josh Hutcherson, Patrick Fugit, Orlando Jones, Jane Krakowski and more.
Comments
the vampires assistant will be tons better than twilight ever was.
I read the series Darren Shan Cirque du Freak series its was realy good and i am a little Dissapointed that they changed the name for the movie i will probably see it though it i hope it will be as good as the book
Lotty, I agree with you whole-heatedly.
You're acting like nothing else ever tried to get Twilight fans *Cough* True Blood *Cough* By the way, Cirque Du Freak is WAY better than Twilight.
I think the film will be really disapointing, just check the trailer.. full of mistakes. But films are usually worse than the books they made of.
Miko,
I have seen the trailer but am not familiar with the books. I try to separate the book from the film regardless even I have seen it if the film can't stand on its own two feet without having read the book its not good. I understand it's human nature but it seems that only films are held to a standard of representing the book exactly.
The mathematics of adaptation most times will not allow for it, moreover, slavish adaptations tend to be boring. If you want something to be exactly like the book read the book, this is not meant to sound crass it's just the truth. The book is a separate piece of art while they can be compared they are so different because of the limitations afforded each.
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