Movies
Sony Pictures Shows Their Big Balls, Nabs Controversial ‘Detention’!
It’s nice to see a studio take a risk, especially on something that’s so far out there it’s going to be nearly impossible to promote. Sony Pictures Worldwide has picked up worldwide rights to the Joseph Kahn-directed Detention, which is billed as an apocalyptic teen romantic comedy. The film preemed at the SXSW Film Festival where Bloody’s David Harley raved of its lunacy. There is a mass amount of pop culture references, so a release is pretty timely…
The movie, starring Josh Hutcherson, Dane Cook and Shanley Caswell and directed by Joseph Kahn, claimed the Youth Jury prize for best FutureWave Feature Film at the just-concluded Seattle International Film Festival. “It concerns a group of students dealing with a slasher killer as they navigate their last year of high school.”
“The pace, energy and awesomeness Kahn has achieved in ‘Detention’ are completely mind-blowing in the best way possible,” said SPWA vp production Scott Shooman, who announced the acquisition along with SPWA senior vp business affairs Michael Helfand and Detention Films’ Abramoff and Weager.
Detention is going to split audiences into a strong love/hate relationship — get ready for controversy and plenty of theater lobby chatter. Uber awesome festival trailer inside.
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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