The Last Voyage Of The Demeter Sails Into A Doomed Opening Weekend At The Box Office

There are ominous clouds gathering over the opening weekend of "The Last Voyage of the Demeter," which is rather appropriate for a film about a ship's crew who are doomed to become a mid-journey vampire snack. Made for a steep (for a horror movie) budget of $45 million, "Last Voyage of the Demeter" is set to fall short of expectations that were already set very low. Though Variety reported in the wake of Thursday previews ($750,000) that the film was heading for an opening weekend between $7 million and $9 million, Friday's numbers are now pointing to a debut of just $6.5 million, per The Hollywood Reporter.

Based on a chapter from Bram Stoker's "Dracula," the film was directed by André Øvredal, who has some great horror movies already under his belt, including "Troll Hunter," "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark," and "The Autopsy of Jane Doe." But mixed reviews indicate that "The Last Voyage of the Demeter" is more of a miss than a hit for Øvredal, and the marketing has been pretty underwhelming. Turns out, not every movie trailer can pull off a "Smashing Pumpkins" needle drop the way "Watchmen" did.

In terms of direct competition, it's hard to make excuses for "The Last Voyage of the Demeter." Yes, the reign of "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" continues, but Australian indie horror "Talk to Me" managed a $10 million debut a couple of weeks ago despite a crowded release slate. In fact, "Talk to Me" grossed almost as much in its second weekend ($6.3 million) as "Last Voyage of the Demeter" is set to make at launch (and was produced for one-tenth of the budget). So, what strange malady has afflicted this vessel?

This isn't the first time this year that Universal Pictures has milked Dracula's tiny bat nipples. If you're feeling a sense of déjà vu, it might be because "Renfield" — another horror movie with an oversized budget that honed in on a minor aspect of Bram Stoker's original novel — similarly bombed at the box office when it hit theaters in April 2023. After kicking things off with an anemic $8.1 million opening weekend, "Renfield" finished its box office run with $26.3 million worldwide, falling far short of meeting its $65 million production budget, let alone breaking even after marketing and distribution costs.

"Renfield" did perform particularly weakly overseas, and until international numbers come in for "The Last Voyage of the Demeter" we can't be sure of its overall trajectory. "The Pope's Exorcist," for example, had a similar opening weekend to "Renfield" but grossed three times as much globally by the time it left theaters (presumably thanks to the power of Russell Crowe's flawless Italian accent). 

The back-to-back flopping of "Renfield" and "Demeter" doesn't exactly bode well for Universal's next "Dracula"-adjacent movie, Robert Eggers' remake of "Nosferatu." Eggers' reputation as a director and the presence of Bill Skarsgård, whose Pennywise was a winning ingredient in the recent adaptations of Stephen King's "It," as Count Orlok might be enough to draw audiences in, but overall it seems like audience appetites for vampire movies are low right now. Perhaps it's time for Dracula to take a nice long slumber.