Movies
Screenwriters Give ‘Ouija’ Update, Smaller And Scarier!
Last month it was announced, that after deciding to make its adaptation of Hasbro board game Ouija a low-budget pic, Universal Pictures recruited the team of Juliet Snowden and Stiles White (The Knowing, Boogeyman, Poltergeist, The Possession) to both rewrite and helm the pic, reports Variety.
Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz wrote the original drafts for Ouija when it was envisioned as a big-budget pic. The project began at Universal but then shifted to Paramount with McG on board to direct. But Par could never come to terms on a budget, which spurred McG to exit the project. Universal re-acquired Ouija in March after Par put it in turnaround. Blum was brought on at that time to help Bay, Form and Fuller reimagine the property as a low-budget pic.
Last night STYD caught up with the pair who gave a brief update. White said “We just love the idea, when Juliet was growing up, her older sister had a Ouija board, my grandparents had a Ouija board up on the shelf in the closet, so I remember… I had a healthy sense of caution with it. I love the idea it’s a game, but not really a game. It’s sold as a game because where else can you put it in the store?” Snowden added, “Contact spirits with something you find on the shelf at Walmart or Target? That’s where we’re coming from with the story, it’s not just about one board, it’s any board and that’s what makes it scary.”
Looks like they’re ditching the adventure angle and headed more into horror. Jason Blum is producing through his Blumhouse Prods. shingle, as will Michael Bay through his Platinum Dunes banner along with Platinum partners Andrew Form and Brad Fuller. Universal plans to release Ouija sometime in 2013. Snowden let slip that it might be in October.
After pulling in $28 million at the worldwide box office this month, director (and star) Dev Patel’s critically acclaimed action-thriller Monkey Man is now available to watch at home.
You can rent Monkey Man for $19.99 or digitally purchase the film for $24.99!
Monkey Man is currently 88% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, with Bloody Disgusting’s head critic Meagan Navarro awarding the film 4.5/5 stars in her review out of SXSW back in March.
Meagan raves, “While the violence onscreen is palpable and painful, it’s not just the exquisite fight choreography and thrilling action set pieces that set Monkey Man apart but also its political consciousness, unique narrative structure, and myth-making scale.”
“While Monkey Man pays tribute to all of the action genre’s greats, from the Indonesian action classics to Korean revenge cinema and even a John Wick joke or two, Dev Patel’s cultural spin and unique narrative structure leave behind all influences in the dust for new terrain,” Meagan’s review continues.
She adds, “Monkey Man presents Dev Patel as a new action hero, a tenacious underdog with a penetrating stare who bites, bludgeons, and stabs his way through bodies to gloriously bloody excess. More excitingly, the film introduces Patel as a strong visionary right out of the gate.”
Inspired by the legend of Hanuman, Monkey Man stars Patel as Kid, an anonymous young man who ekes out a meager living in an underground fight club where, night after night, wearing a gorilla mask, he is beaten bloody by more popular fighters for cash. After years of suppressed rage, Kid discovers a way to infiltrate the enclave of the city’s sinister elite. As his childhood trauma boils over, his mysteriously scarred hands unleash an explosive campaign of retribution to settle the score with the men who took everything from him.
Monkey Man is produced by Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions.
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