Movies
I Love Who Screen Gems Chose to Direct ‘Slender Man’
Screen Gems sort of, kind of has an identity crisis. While they’re targeting tweens with their remakes and franchises, they continue to dabble outside of the box with projects like Fede Alvarez’s Don’t Breathe. It’s nice to have new Underworld and Resident Evil films every few years, but it would be even better to have a stronger output of darker projects with visionary filmmakers. This could be their new direction.
Screen Gems has developed a feature based on the popular Slender Man horror meme for quite some time, but it wasn’t until now that I’ve grown excited. Sony’s genre arm has made a bold selection for their director, tapping Sylvain White to helm Slender Man, THR is reporting.
White directed the absolutely phenomenal Stomp the Yard for Sony back in 2007, which led to Losers in 2010. He’s been directing a lot of TV since then – “Sleepy Hollow”, “Hawaii Five-0”, “MacGuyver”, “Rush Hour” – although he’s the kind of visionary best suited for feature films.
Slender Man is depicted as a lanky, faceless figure in a black suit, and originated as an internet meme. It grew to fame following the reports that violent acts were being committed in his name, including a much-publicized story of two 12-year-old girls in Wisconsin who lured a friend into the woods and nearly fatally stabbed her.
HBO has an upcoming doc based on the internet-age bogeyman, Beware the Slenderman.
Bradley Fischer, James Vanderbilt and William Sherak will produce the feature under their Mythology Entertainment banner, which originally held the rights to Slender Man across all platforms, including motion picture.
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![Don't Think It, Don't Say It - Finding the Good in 'The Bye Bye Man' [The Silver Lining]](https://i0.wp.com/bloody-disgusting.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Dont-Think-It-Dont-Say-It-Finding-the-Good-in-The-Bye-Bye-Man-The-Silver-Lining.jpg?resize=80%2C80&ssl=1)
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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