Movies
Sony’s UK Division To “Release the Hounds” On New Horror Game Show!
Sony Pictures Television‘s UK production joint venture Gogglebox created and is producing “Release The Hounds,” a one-hour format that mixes horror and game shows by sending three unsuspecting contestants into a forest at dusk as they seek out chests full of prize money, reports Deadline.
Little do they know, in order to win big, they’ll face the “scariest challenges ever endured on TV” – those include navigating a field of crucified scarecrows, descending beneath the floorboards in a deserted cabin, and reading bedtime stories in the nursery from hell. The ultimate challenge is to out-run a pack of hounds who are trained to guard the cash.
ITV2 has given the first commission to the show and will air the UK version as a special later this month, in time for Halloween. Executive producers are Gogglebox founders Adam Wood and Mat Steiner. The format will be presented to international buyers at Mipcom next week.
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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