Movies
Yes, They’re Making a Sequel to the Japanese ‘Godzilla’ Reboot
I’m in the minority of people who dislike, no, scathe the U.S. remake of Godzilla. While I’m not digging into that right now, I will say that I was blown away with Japan’s own reboot, last year’s Shin Godzilla, which was politically charged and damned exciting. The film received an extremely limited theatrical run here in the States before heading to VOD and home video. From our end, it didn’t look all that successful, but it was a monster-sized deal in its home country; in fact, Shin Godzilla won Best Picture at Japan’s own Academy Awards! And those who actually watched Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi Godzilla know that it ends on a gigantic cliffhanger, revealing some new mythology about the King of the Monsters. A sequel is inevitable.
Co-director Hideaki Anno, executive produces an event in the Shibuya District in Tokyo, Japan where they play the music from both Shin Godzilla and Neon Genesis Evangelion. Anno was in attendance where he announced a (possible) sequel to Shin Godzilla.
The following text was displayed on the big screen:
シンゴジラの次回作及び、シン・エヴァンゲリオン劇場版: || にご期待下さい。‘Please expect the next installment of Shin Godzilla, and Shin Evangelion Gekijōban:||’
There’s also a Godzilla feature in the works at Netflix, which Anno could be referring to. We’ll dig for more info.
What do you guys think? Were you fans of Shin Godzilla?
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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