Will The Last Voyage Of The Demeter Sink Or Swim At The Box Office?

Dracula is coming back to the big screen next weekend with "The Last Voyage of the Demeter," but will the movie be able to drain some box office dollars from moviegoers eager for some horror goodness? As of right now, it's not looking great. August is often not quite as robust as June or July in terms of big, heavy-hitting releases. Something like "Demeter" can benefit from a lack of huge, direct competition. But that doesn't seem to be what's going to happen here, sad to say, sad to say.

According to Box Office Pro, Universal Pictures is looking to scare up anywhere between $5 and $10 million on opening weekend with this one. That is, to say the least of it, not good for a big, studio-produced horror movie such as this. The big question right now is in regard to the budget, which has not been released as of this writing. Though the trailers for director Andre Ovredal's latest indicate it sure as heck wasn't cheap. If I were to guess? Probably in the same neighborhood as the studio's creature feature "Beast" from last year, which came with a $38 million price tag.

A $5 million opening would be nothing shy of a disaster. At $10 million there could be some hope of avoiding a total shipwreck, particularly if Dracula's good name can help sell an outsized number of tickets overseas. But the bigger problem seems to be that Universal just isn't pushing this movie as hard as one might expect.

"The Last Voyage of the Demeter" is based on a single chapter from Bram Stoker's classic novel" Dracula." It tells the terrifying story of a merchant ship that was been chartered to carry private cargo — fifty unmarked wooden crates — from Carpathia to London. What could possibly go wrong?

As far as comparisons go, August of last year may provide a couple of indicators as to where "Demeter" might wash ashore. The aforementioned "Beast" opened in mid-August last year to $11.5 million, en route to a $59 million worldwide finish. Needless to say, not a great result for a movie that cost nearly $40 million to produce. The following weekend saw another vampire flick in the form of "The Invitation" unexpectedly top the charts with a meager $6.8 million. That had more to do with the fact that Hollywood left August almost totally bare last year though.

"The Invitation" worked out because the movie cost just $10 million to produce. Over time, it absolutely made some money. The best bet is that "Demeter" falls somewhere between those two movies which, again, is not great. That said, if Universal somehow made this movie for $20 million or less, I would argue there is absolutely hope on the horizon, particularly if the movie does well on VOD. But in terms of its opening weekend prospects? The only way this gets better is if critics sing its praises in a big way and it generates some genuine word-of-mouth buzz.

The film stars Corey Hawkins ("Kong: Skull Island"), Aisling Franciosi ("The Nightingale"), Liam Cunningham ("Game of Thrones"), David Dastmalchian ("Dune"), and Javier Botet ("Mama") as Dracula.

"The Last Voyage of the Demeter" is set to hit theaters on August 11, 2023.