Movies
TV: A&E Launches Online Prequel to ‘Bag of Bones’
A&E Network has launched an online narrative prequel, “Dark Score Stories,” to “Stephen King’s Bag of Bones,” a four-hour epic miniseries (airing on Sunday, December 11 and Monday, December 12) based on The New York Times #1 bestselling novel, and featuring Pierce Brosnan’s return to television. Dark Score Stories is a visual and interactive exploration of the setting and characters of “Bag of Bones” through a series of eerie, animated images, striking black-and-white still photographs and audio interviews.
In ‘Dark Score Stories,’ characters from the upcoming miniseries (including those played by stars Pierce Brosnan, Annabeth Gish and Melissa George) come to life in seven striking, photojournalistic portraits and oral histories. Each vignette will provide a glimpse into every day life at Dark Score Lake, “Bag of Bones” setting, and is introduced with an animated still – a unique visual technique with subtle, mysterious movements hinting at the dark secrets bubbling beneath the surface of each tale. Visitors to the site will find a series of secrets hidden in the rich detail of each image, recognizable especially to Stephen King fans. The haunting photography is by award-winning Danish photojournalist Joachim Ladefoged, whose work has previously appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Newsweek and TIME. ‘Dark Score Stories’ was created for A&E by Campfire, a marketing agency founded by the creators of The Blair Witch Project.
“Bag of Bones” is a ghost story of grief and lost love’s enduring bonds, about an innocent child caught in a terrible crossfire and a new love haunted by past secrets. Melissa George (“In Treatment”), Annabeth Gish (“Brotherhood”), Anika Noni Rose (Dreamgirls), William Schallert (“The Patty Duke Show”), Jason Priestley (“Beverly Hills, 90210”) and Caitlin Carmichael (“True Blood”) also star in the television event premiering Sunday, December 11 and concludes on Monday, December 12, airing at 9PM ET/PT on both nights.
For more information on “Bag of Bones” visit the series website or the show’s Facebook page.
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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