For part of my dissertation research, I am looking at vampire films in production in the next few years and how they portray the vampire. I was very surprised when only two came up when I Googled it. There was also another vampire film released late last year/early this year (a part of the famous Underworld franchise) which I am also looking at.
Underworld: Blood Wars (Anna Foerster, 2016)
Vampire death dealer, Selene (Kate Beckinsale) fights to end the eternal war between the Lycan clan and the Vampire faction that betrayed her.
All I can say about this film is, oh dear. Reviews are poor and they did not make back their budget nor achieve a good opening weekend box office. According to numerous reviews, it's very similar to the previous Underworld films and offers nothing new for old and new fans. Maybe the production company wanted to play it safe and go with what the franchise likes?
To link to my dissertation, this goes against the idea that the vampire changes with societal context. The Underworld franchise is 14 years old and it is still the same in storyline and in their vampires.
The Last Voyage of Demeter (David Slade, TBC)
Based on a chapter in Bram Stoker's "Dracula," which describes the arrival of the vampire count in England on a cargo ship that has crashed into the rocks at Whitby with no crew and the dead captain lashed to the steering wheel. Stoker tells the story via the captain's log of the voyage, which begins in Bulgaria and becomes increasingly disjointed as members of the crew disappear.
There isn't a lot of information or clips on this film as it is still in production by the looks of it. The story itself sounds like an old fashioned vampire tale. With the star studded cast of Viggo Mortensen and Jude Law, and the recent final Pirates of The Caribbean franchise, the film feels like it could do well, with people wanting more out to sea action.
The Redemption of Cain (Will Smith, TBC)
An epic re-telling of the Biblical sibling tale, Cain and Abel, this time with a vampiric twist.
Again, there is not a lot of information on this film. It certainly does sound interesting though, and curious to how Cain and Abel will be portrayed. There has been a few biblical blockbusters such as Noah and Ridley Scott possibly doing a Moses film, there is a franchise for it and they could be playing on that. There is definitely a franchise for Will Smith too so the film could do fairly well. However, biblical films don't seem to earn huge profits, and with quite a lot of religious people going to see it, they may be put off with the vampire twist.
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Another notable project (not film related) is The Vampire Chronicles (Interview With The Vampire) being turned into a TV series. There is a lot of hype behind it with rumours of a star cast and a huge fanbase of Anne Rice's novels and of the film. However, there has been a few TV series based off films before, one good example for my dissertation is From Dusk Till Dawn. There is a huge fanbase behind the cult classic film, however the TV series plummeted and received terrible reviews.
The market is very unpredictable and it's hard to say what films will do well or not, even with a franchise, it does not secure a film will do well or people will enjoy or be affected with the take on the vampire.
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