Ever since 30 Days of Night surprised some by being #1 at the box office when it opened last October, there have been rumblings about a potential sequel. After all, the movie was based on a series of graphic novels by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith, so the content is there as long as someone is willing to do something with it.
And if you believe Bloody Disgusting, the plan for Ghost House Pictures is to turn the next installment of the novels into a straight-to-DVD feature. But according to ShockTilYouDrop, Niles himself has said that “There's not one bit of truth to that.” Niles has reportedly always supported a sequel, so presumably what he means here is that, if there is a sequel, it will be released in theatres.
Now it's possible that both sites are right, and Ghost House Pictures has a plan that Niles doesn't know about. And as the author of the series, you can see why he wouldn't want to see his book turned into a direct-to-DVD release. What's interesting about 30 Days of Night is that, even though it was a #1 hit for a weekend, it only grossed $39 million domestically, well below box office receipts for horror movies like The Grudge that kicked off legitimate franchises. While there may be plenty of fans of the graphic novel who would flock to theatres to see a sequel, the producers may very well not believe it's worth the investment for a second one. Plus, bringing back actors like Ben Foster and Josh Hartnett would be fairly expensive, and in the world of direct-to-DVD, anything goes when it comes to casting.
We'll only know in the coming weeks whether Bloody Disgusting or Shock Til You Drop—or both!-- have it right, but at the moment I'm leaning toward the direct-to-DVD option. Even in the limited realm of vampire movies, when you don't have guaranteed box office, you don't have a guaranteed theatrical release.
