Movies
Etan Cohen Goes From Writing ‘Men In Black 3’ To Directing ‘Boy Scouts Vs. Zombies’
Back in December of 2010, we reported that Paramount had snagged the rights to Boy Scouts vs. Zombies, a screenplay in the vein of Goonies about a local boy scout troop that must save the local girl scout troop from a zombie outbreak on an overnight camping trip. The script was written by Carrie Evans and Emi Mochizuki and made 2010’s Black List.
And now it appears as though Tropic Thunder and Men In Black scribe Etan Cohen is set to make his directorial debut with the material. Per The Hollywood Reporter, “Etan Cohen, one of the town’s hottest comedy scribes, is in negotiations to make his directorial debut on Paramount’s horror-comedy ‘Boy Scouts vs. Zombies’.”
The article also mentions that Cohen will supervise the writing of a new draft by Lona Williams (Drop Dead Gorgeous). That seems like an interesting choice since she hasn’t been a credited writer on anything recently, maybe Cohen is using his could to get her back in the game a bit.
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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