Movies
TV: Danai Gurira Talks Michonne Role In ‘The Walking Dead’
The third season of The Walking Dead can’t come soon enough. I’m literally dying to see how they utilize both Michonne and The Governor, two major character arcs implemented in Robert Kirkman’s excellent comic series.
With David Morrissey starring as the iconic Governor, Danai Gurira was revealed in season 2’s finale as the sword-wielding, ass-kicking Michonne. The Hollywood Reporter caught up with Gurira recently to talk about the character’s future.
“I’m going to develop [the character] with [showrunner] Glen Mazzara and the whole creative team. They have their own take on the source material,” she reveals, explaining that the series will move in a different direction than the comic. “I’m going to be meeting with them next week to get an understanding of what their take is and how she grows and develops. I’ll find out the answer to that in the coming weeks in terms of exactly how she will map out with what she is in the books vs. what she will be on the screen.”
Gurira continues, “I was trying to really investigate a character and allow her to have as much dimension as possible and crack it open even more. What you see through the writing and vision of the creator, you add to it by bringing your full humanity and by really delving into the character’s background and their motives and fears, all those things can make a multi-dimensional character come to life. That’s how I’ve been trained from the beginning and how I’ve created characters in the past on the stage or through my playwriting. I plan to bring all of that to the table to allow Michonne to be as rich and complex as possible. I’m excited to bring her to life as someone who really has a lot of life and a lot of complexity.”
If anything, this show needs some fresh meat and better characters. Michonne, the Governor and a battle at a prison sounds like a good start to me…
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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