New Movies to Crave: Dark Shadows Lightens Things Up, but The Avenges Should Dominate Again

By Chris Kavan - 05/10/12 at 01:42 PM CT

After last week's record-breaking opening, I see no reason why The Avengers won't once again dominate the weekend. However, there is one film that will try to step up to the plate and take on the juggernaut, but I don't think it stands a chance at unseating the champ.

1) Tim Burton and Johnny Depp have a long and storied history together. From Edward Scissorhands through Sweeney Todd, the duo have combined to make some of the most original, dark and interesting films. Once again, the two team up this time for Dark Shadows. Based on a somewhat campy soap opera from the late 60s-early 70s, the story follows a prosperous young man in the 1700s who double-crosses a witch, gets cursed as a vampire, buried alive and is unearthed in the 1970s where he finds his family is not so prosperous anymore and populated by all manner of odd balls. Since this is Burton, I expect plenty of visual punch - although I don't think is looks like Dark Shadows is going to be all that dark, as he looks to add a fair bit of comedy (mainly due to the fish-out-of-water aspect of the plot) to the mix. The reviews haven't exactly been glowing, although they haven't been terrible either. I think your enjoyment of this film is going to come down to just how much you like Burton (who, let's face it, has been on a bit of a downward slide). I do plan to see this, but I'm not expecting to be blown away.

And that is the only competition you'll find this weekend against a bunch of extremely popular super heroes. My guess is that Dark Shadows will open in second, but I think the gap between that film and The Avengers is going to be pretty wide. I'll be back Sunday with the gory details.