Movies
‘The Door’ Becomes ‘Shadow People,’ First Stills
With two other films carrying the same title, I’m not exactly sure how smart it was to change Matthew Arnold’s The Door to Shadow People.
Announced last December, Shadow People is inspired by true events concerning a radio talkshow host (played by Dallas Roberts) who’s drawn to exploring paranormal activity by a caller and an unexplained death. Alison Eastwood will play a CDC investigator.
Out of Cannes we scored the first three official stills, dig on ’em inside.
“SHADOW PEOPLE is a psychological-thriller that explores the rare medical phenomenon known as SUNDS (Sudden Unexplained Nocturnal Death Syndrome). Millions of people across the globe have had encounters with what they describe as dark, shadowy creatures that visit them at night. Sometimes horrifying, sometimes deadly, these nocturnal intruders have been described as early as man’s first recorded writings. But what are they? And what do they want?
Small town radio personality CHARLIE CROWE (Dallas Roberts) is thrust into the mystery when a strange caller relates a terrifying experience during Crowe’s late night call-in show. At the same time, CDC Public Health Agent, SOPHIE LANCOMBE (Alison Eastwood), is hot on the trail of the cause of the rare medical condition known as SUNDS. Her investigations entwine her with Charlie’s own discoveries and take them both into a dark world and a decades old cover-up about the phenomenon we now call, The Shadow People. Once you open the door to the mystery…you’ll never sleep soundly again.”
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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