A Haunting in Venice | September 15, 2023 | Branagh's moustache is back at it again!

[John Rambo]

Great movie! Much better than nile in all aspects and suspense! SOLID stuff from Kenneth Branagh. 8/10

[Dominic Draper]

Seeing this tomorrow.

 

Gotta say I'm shocked at a $60M budget. Nothing about the trailers screamed needing that much.

 

Blumhouse could have made this for $20M with probably the same cast.

[Bob Train]

44 minutes ago, Dominic Draper said:

Seeing this tomorrow.

 

Gotta say I'm shocked at a $60M budget. Nothing about the trailers screamed needing that much.

 

Blumhouse could have made this for $20M with probably the same cast.

It's Disney, somehow they made Boogeyman cost $40m and Haunted Mansion cost $150m.

 

If it was Blumhouse it would have been a lot cheaper, as all their stuff is made on the cheap.

[TerwillikerInst]

I mean, I doubt it was actually $60 million; studios like to inflate the budget reports for riskier movies so that if it flops, they can write off a larger amount. Plus, if it's shot overseas, they get more tax credit money. 

 

Remember how Everything Everywhere All At Once was listed as being $25 million everywhere until it was a smash success, whereupon reputable sites like Deadline started reporting the budget as actually being about $14 million?

 

Same principle here. 

 

I'd also say the movie earned whatever budget it did have because the sets, locations and cinematography were stunning. 

 

Plus, being a Branagh production, I'm sure it was an efficient shoot (IMDB says about two months). Blumhouse movies are nice but when it comes to the bigger movies you can always tell where they cut corners. 

 

[Chrysaor]

Opening day in France was 31,313 admissions vs. Death on the Nile's 39,799.

 

I admit, I wasn't familiar with Camille Cottin before her casting in this, but she's had leading or co-leading roles in several French box office hits and the French media definitely consider her to be a major star. So, it seemed reasonable to hope that her inclusion would boost the French box office. Bummer.

[titanic2187]

Despite having better review, Venice seem to have "done" something to get significant lower audience score on RT, only 71% positive while Nile got 82%. Is something in the plot prove to be too divisive for some? Or the somehow misleading tone of the trailer pissed off some horror fans?

[Chrysaor]

44 minutes ago, titanic2187 said:

Despite having better review, Venice seem to have "done" something to get significant lower audience score on RT, only 71% positive while Nile got 82%. Is something in the plot prove to be too divisive for some? Or the somehow misleading tone of the trailer pissed off some horror fans?

Horror movies just generally tend to have lower audience scores. To use to recent examples, Candyman and Nope both had B cinemascores but only only have 72% and 69% audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes. Compare this to something like the Flash, which got a B cinemascore but has an 83% RT audience score. I imagine if this had leaned more into a traditional whodunnit and less into horror it probably would've gotten at least a slight audience ratings boost just based on genre.

[PlatnumRoyce]

55 minutes ago, titanic2187 said:

Despite having better review, Venice seem to have "done" something to get significant lower audience score on RT, only 71% positive while Nile got 82%. Is something in the plot prove to be too divisive for some? Or the somehow misleading tone of the trailer pissed off some horror fans?

Mixed genre films tend to have lower audience scores. 
 

Quote

A Haunting in Venice gets the same CinemaScore grade as its predecessors, a B. Comscore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak exits were harder at 73% positive and a 48% recommend. Guy-leaning at 52%, with the largest demo interestingly being 25-34 at 36%. The over-45 club repped 28%. Even though guys have the edge, women over 25 showed up at 39%. They gave the film a 76% grade, while those over 55 gave it an 81%. Diversity demos were 53% Caucasian, 18% Latino and Hispanic, 9% Black and 14% Asian. Close to a third of the gross for A Haunting in Venice is coming from the West, with PLF and Imax driving 39% of the gross. AMC Burbank, of course, is the top-grossing venue in the nation with $34K to date

reading between the lines, it seems like the younger audiences gave it pretty bad reviews so is this a horror versus mystery/Poirot expectation problem?

[PlatnumRoyce]

11 hours ago, TerwillikerInst said:

I mean, I doubt it was actually $60 million; studios like to inflate the budget reports for riskier movies so that if it flops, they can write off a larger amount. Plus, if it's shot overseas, they get more tax credit money. 

 

The studios aren't officially claiming the lower number is accurate, they're deniable leaks to trades systematically lower than 

tax credit sourced ones. Look at something like 65 for an example. 

[titanic2187]

14 minutes ago, Chrysaor said:

Horror movies just generally tend to have lower audience scores. To use to recent examples, Candyman and Nope both had B cinemascores but only only have 72% and 69% audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes. Compare this to something like the Flash, which got a B cinemascore but has an 83% RT audience score. I imagine if this had leaned more into a traditional whodunnit and less into horror it probably would've gotten at least a slight audience ratings boost just based on genre.

Problem is, the people who saw it all confirm this isn't a horror movie. So Venice is incomparable to horror genre.  

 

11 minutes ago, PlatnumRoyce said:

Mixed genre films tend to have lower audience scores. 
 

reading between the lines, it seems like the younger audiences gave it pretty bad reviews so is this a horror versus mystery/Poirot expectation problem?

 

That is what I am suspecting too. I haven't seen the movie but knowing franchise background, no way this is a supernatural horror meet murder flick like Conjuring 3 but the trailer seem oversell that.  

[Chrysaor]

3 hours ago, titanic2187 said:

Problem is, the people who saw it all confirm this isn't a horror movie. So Venice is incomparable to horror genre.  

 

 

That is what I am suspecting too. I haven't seen the movie but knowing franchise background, no way this is a supernatural horror meet murder flick like Conjuring 3 but the trailer seem oversell that.  

I mean, to each their own, but I saw it last night and would comfortably describe it as a "horror movie" as well as a mystery. I wouldn't compare it to the Conjuring, but I think something like Sixth Sense wouldn't be the worst comparison in the world.

Edited September 16, 2023 by Chrysaor

[ringedmortality]

This was brilliant. Gorgeously shot as Branagh builds on the visual language he started in Belfast. Best performances from all of these films. And Hildur really made a terrific score, especially considering how meh her Women Talking score was.

[Dominic Draper]

Thought this was great!

 

Best of the 3 easily.

 

And this was still a horror film. A movie doesn't have to be supernatural to be horror. It's still firmly a whodunnit in the horror genre.

[Chrysaor]

The performances really were quite good all around. What surprised me even more was Michael Green's writing. I feel like a few of the plot beats were a tad clunky (the monologue at the party about the building's history felt sorta infodumpy, although whoever that actor was delivered it very well), but the character writing was very strong.  Definitely noticeably stronger than the previous two films which surprised me since he's been the only credited screenwriter on all three films. The scene with the sibling's take about their dream of coming to Missouri was one of many standouts to me. I feel like Green was really incredibly savvy in how he balanced the cast and made sure to give what felt like every single character one or more moments to really flex their acting chops and all of those moments felt completely earned and organic. Fey and Branagh had great chemsitry, and this to me, felt like the film where Branagh finally slipped effortlessly into his character.

 

I don't know if the film will stick out enough to get Best Cinematography or Best Original Score Oscar noms, but yes, both were major standouts as well. I sure hope James Prichard (one of the film's executive producers) is right and we get a fourth one.

Edited September 17, 2023 by Chrysaor

[ddddeeee]

Really enjoyed this. Felt almost like an amalgamation of several other Christie titles. The denouement suffers because of how loosely they follow Christie, but it helps that Hallowe'en Party is lesser Christie anyway.

 

Tina Fey struggled with her more dramatic moments, but this is the first of these in forever where it felt like all suspects had their moment(s). The balance was just right on this one.

 

I'd love twenty more, but I'm more than content if this is Branagh's last. He's leaving on a high after the all-round disaster of DotN's pre-production and post-production. Everyone knows about the latter, but the former was bad as well. I can't help but wonder if this movie even getting made is partly an apology for that.

[TalismanRing]

On 9/15/2023 at 9:25 PM, Bob Train said:

It's Disney, somehow they made Boogeyman cost $40m and Haunted Mansion cost $150m.

 

If it was Blumhouse it would have been a lot cheaper, as all their stuff is made on the cheap.

 

Blumhouse budgets are kept smaller because they traditionally budget for a higher back end.  That way the risk of losing money is considerably smaller but their profits if it hits big are also smaller because of the back end payouts.

[Chrysaor]

Box Office comparison of Death on the Nile vs. A Haunting in Venice:

 

 

USA     $12.8     ----->     $14.5 MM     +13%
UK     $2.6      ----->     $2.6 MM     +0%
China     $5.8 MM     ----->     $2.4 MM     -59%
Italy     $2.1 MM     ----->     $2.1 MM     +0%
France     $2.1 MM     ----->     $1.7 MM     -19%
Spain     $942,000     ----->     $1.2 MM     +27%
Korea     $1.15      ----->     $1.0 MM     -13%
Japan     $1.07 MM     ----->     $900k     -16%
Germany     $1.252 MM     ----->     $800k     -36%
Mexico     $398k     ----->     $700k     +76%
Australia     $1.17     ----->     700k     -40%

 

Once you back out China (which wasn't included in DotN's opening weekend) then the international OW's for the two are remarkably similar: $20.7     ----->    $20.3. Assuming that the holds are similar we could be looking at something like this:

 

DOM     $14.5  x's 3.54  =  $51.33

CHI      $2.4  x's 1.85  =  $4.44

INT     $20.3  x's 3.9  =  $79.17

 

For a worldwide total of $134.94 MM vs. DotN's $137.31. So I think that it's likely that this ends very similar to the previous one, possibly slightly lower. However, even if that's the case, it'll definitely be more profitable since according to Deadline AHiV cost $40 MM less than DotN.  Hopefully it'll do as well or better on VOD & streaming as DotN and we 'll end up getting a fourth.

Edited September 18, 2023 by Chrysaor

[TheDude391]

Never seen or had an interest in the first two Poirot films but I'm going to this tomorrow. Everything I've heard and seen sounds really intriguing.

[RichWS]

1 hour ago, TheDude391 said:

Never seen or had an interest in the first two Poirot films but I'm going to this tomorrow. Everything I've heard and seen sounds really intriguing.

 

Going tomorrow myself. I haven't seen Murder and really didn't like Nile, so I'm taking a shot based on WOM. 

[ThomasNicole]

Really loved this, 8/10 for me 

 

(i though Nile was a 3/10 at beast) 

 

So yeah i’m very happy, pretty generic but exceptionally made, really deserves to be watched in theaters. Branagh was very inspired while shooting this.