Movies
‘The Last Will And Testament Of Rosalind Leigh’ Finds Its Monster Effects Guy!
Rodrigo Gudiño’s feature film debut The Last Will and Testament of Rosalind Leigh stars Aaron Poole (Circumstances, Small Town Murder Songs) and is currently in post-production.
Today they’ve announced a new crew member, and an impressive one at that. Marcus Alqueres (300, The Rise of the Planet of the Apes, The Adventures of Tintin) has joined the film and will be supervising the effects for a fully animated monster within it.
The film, “tells the story of an antiques collector who inherits a house from his estranged mother only to discover that she had been living in a shrine devoted to a mysterious cult of angels. Soon, he comes to suspect that his mother’s oppressive spirit still lingers within her home and is using items in the house – especially statues of angels – to contact him with an urgent message.”
Hit the jump for a behind the scenes video from the film’s set!
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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