Movies
Lionsgate’s Trilogy of Horror: More ‘Hunger Games’ Casting, ‘Nurse 3D’ and ‘Zombies’!
After a small lull over the past years, Lionsgate is back with a bang planning a slew of new genre productions. Just this morning we have new goodies on three of them.
First, Lionsgate announced that Hollywood newcomers, Dayo Okeniyi and Amandla Stenberg are the latest Tributes to join the The Hunger Games as “Thresh” and “Rue”. They star alongside previously announced Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, and Liam Hemsworth in the Gary Ross-directed pic in theaters March 23, 2012.
Lionsgate also has officially announced Craig Gillespie as the director in the Natalie Portman produced Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. The project mixes Jane Austen’s 1813 classic novel “Pride and Prejudice,” centering on Elizabeth Bennet’s quest for love and independence amid the outbreak of a virus that turns the dead into zombies. The story’s set in an alternate version of 19th Century England that features deadly ancestors roaming the countryside.
Lastly, here’s the plot crunch for the Gate’s Nurse 3D, which will be directed by Darren Aarniokoski : “By day Abby Russell is a dedicated nurse, someone you wouldn’t hesitate to trust your life with. But by night, her real work begins…using her smoldering sexuality she lures cheating men to their brutal deaths and exposes them for who they really are. When a younger nurse starts to suspect Abby’s actions and compromises her master plan, Abby must find a way to outsmart her long enough to bring the cheater you’d least expect to justice.”
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.”
4 New Horror Movies Releasing This Week Including ‘Late Night with the Devil’ at Home
‘Ready or Not’: Radio Silence Filmmakers Tease the “Absolute Banger” of a Sequel That’s Taking Shape
‘Sting’ Review – Throwback Creature Feature Entertains With an Impressive Practical Monster
Looking for New Episodes of “Chucky” on Peacock? Here’s What Changed
“We Built Every Creature” – ‘Alien: Romulus’ Goes Heavy on the Old School Practical Effects!
You must be logged in to post a comment.