Connect with us

Movies

News Bites: ‘REC’ Wedding, Animated ‘Monster,’ ‘Exorcist’ Play, Dracula Badass Again & First ‘House’ Pic

Published

on

Click on over to the official Facebook page for Filmax’s now-filming REC 3: Genesis and you’ll find a slew of behind-the-scenes wedding photos, which is pretty much like looking through a boring wedding album. It’s hard to complain considering how awesome the first batch of stills were. Paco Plaza is behind the camera solo this time around, with Leticia Dolera and Diego Martin both starring. Watch this spot for an exclusive set report in the coming week.

The boys at /Film caught wind of a bizarre animated project from artist/director Rosto entitled The Monster of Nix, which feature the voice talents of Terry Gilliam and Tom Waits. The animated musical is about Willy, “a troubled boy who fights the destructive force of an all-devouring monster in the village of Nix.” Tom Waits voices Virgil, “a terrifying giant pitch-black swallow,” and Terry Gilliam is voicing the Ranger, “who locks himself up in terror in his forest cabin.” You’ll find a really weird teaser video inside.

Just the other day we told you about a Silence of the Lambs spoof heading to Broadway, now Los Angeles is getting one that’s more head-spinning. A John Doyle-helmed stage adaptation of The Exorcist and world preem plays by Alan Alda and Beth Henley are on tap for the 2011-12 season at L.A.’s Geffen Playhouse, writes Variety. “Agnes of God” playwright John Pielmeier adapts William Peter Blatty’s 1971 novel, also the inspiration for the famous 1973 horror pic. Production from director Doyle (“Sweeney Todd”) is slated to play July 3-Aug. 12, 2012.

It was announced last month that House of Wax and Orphan director Jaume Collet-Serra would be telling a re-imagining of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” in Harker. Details were slim as it’s said to focus on Jonathan Harker as the Scotland Yard detective who is tracking Dracula, with the script setting up the sleuth as a potential new franchise character. Collet-Serra chatted up with Spanish site Aullidos explaining their gonna make the Count nice and evil again: “[Today is all about] vampires and very romance for girls thirteen years. But we want to bring back Dracula and demonstrate who is boss.” Hell yes! Warner Bros. is behind this little fella.

Update: Image removed at request of Relativity. Lastly, check out this teaser image from Mark Tonderai’s House at the End of the Street, which “centers on a teen girl (Jennifer Lawrence) who moves with her mom to a new town and learns that their home is across the street from a house where a double murder took place. Complications ensue when the teen befriends the massacre’s sole surviving son (Max Thieriot). Elisabeth Shue costars as Lawrence’s mom.” In theaters February 3 from Relativity Media.

Horror movie fanatic who co-founded Bloody Disgusting in 2001. Producer on Southbound, V/H/S/2/3/94, SiREN, Under the Bed, and A Horrible Way to Die. Chicago-based. Horror, pizza and basketball connoisseur. Taco Bell daily. Franchise favs: Hellraiser, Child's Play, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, Scream and Friday the 13th. Horror 365 days a year.

Advertisement
Click to comment

Movies

‘Abigail’ on Track for a Better Opening Weekend Than Universal’s Previous Two Vampire Attempts

Published

on

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.”

Abigail Melissa Barrera movie

Continue Reading