Movies
Jessica Biel Offered Lead Role in ‘Total Recall’ Redo
After carousing a list of potential female leads, Variety is reporting that Sony Pictures may be close to landing Jessica Biel (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Blade: Trinity) for one of two female leads for its Total Recall reboot.
Biel is circling a role opposite Colin Farrell in the pic. Sony has offered her the role but no discussions are underway. It’s unclear which role she would play.
In the original 1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger starrer, the femme leads were played by Sharon Stone, who played Lori, and Rachel Ticotin, who played Melina.
The film follows Douglas Quaid, a man who believes he is a secret agent and ends up on a Martian colony where he fights to overthrow a ruler controlling the production of air.
There was early buzz that Biel was going for the role of Melina but sources say there’s a chance she going for the other character.
Len Wiseman will direct the latest version, with Farrell stepping into the Schwarzenegger role and Bryan Cranston attached to play the villain. James Vanderbilt penned the screenplay.
Based on a Philip K. Dick short story, the original pic was directed by Paul Verhoeven. It grossed more than $250 million at the worldwide box office.
Movies
‘Abigail’ on Track for a Better Opening Weekend Than Universal’s Previous Two Vampire Attempts
In the wake of Leigh Whannell’s Invisible Man back in 2020, Universal has been struggling to achieve further box office success with their Universal Monsters brand. Even in the early days of the pandemic, Invisible Man scared up $144 million at the worldwide box office, while last year’s Universal Monsters: Dracula movies The Last Voyage of the Demeter and Renfield didn’t even approach that number when you COMBINE their individual box office hauls.
The horror-comedy Renfield came along first in April 2023, ending its run with just $26 million. The period piece Last Voyage of the Demeter ended its own run with a mere $21 million.
But Universal is trying again with their ballerina vampire movie Abigail this weekend, the latest bloodbath directed by the filmmakers known as Radio Silence (Ready or Not, Scream).
Unlike Demeter and Renfield, the early reviews for Abigail are incredibly strong, with our own Meagan Navarro calling the film “savagely inventive in terms of its vampiric gore,” ultimately “offering a thrill ride with sharp, pointy teeth.” Read her full review here.
That early buzz – coupled with some excellent trailers – should drive Abigail to moderate box office success, the film already scaring up $1 million in Thursday previews last night. Variety notes that Abigail is currently on track to enjoy a $12 million – $15 million opening weekend, which would smash Renfield ($8 million) and Demeter’s ($6 million) opening weekends.
Working to Abigail‘s advantage is the film’s reported $28 million production budget, making it a more affordable box office bet for Universal than the two aforementioned movies.
Stay tuned for more box office reporting in the coming days.
In Abigail, “After a group of would-be criminals kidnap the 12-year-old ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, all they have to do to collect a $50 million ransom is watch the girl overnight. In an isolated mansion, the captors start to dwindle, one by one, and they discover, to their mounting horror, that they’re locked inside with no normal little girl.”
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