Connect with us

Movies

[Box Office] ‘The Curse of La Llorona’, ‘Pet Sematary’, and ‘Us’ Hitting Landmark Numbers

Published

on

Landmark numbers across the board even as Thanos and the Avengers battered the box office to smithereens. Every single film took a hit, but three horror films push toward big numbers.

I find it interesting that nobody is talking about Paramount Pictures’ new adaptation of Stephen King‘s classic Pet Sematary (read our review). The Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer-directed remake has just surpassed $100M globally on its $20M budget. As I noted various times, the film needed to top $70M worldwide in order to be considered a success.  If Paramount were to make another film, the producers have expressed a desire to explore a prequel, rather than a sequel.

Then there’s New Line Cinema’s The Curse of La Llorona, the latest film in the Conjuring Universe that opened incredibly strong last weekend. Unfortunately, it was pitted against Thanos and took a hit, but still managed to surpass $75M (on its way to 86.9M) worldwide in just its second week. Directed by first-timer Michael Chaves, the story of The Weeping Woman was made for only $9M making this a monstrous hit. There is no world in which we won’t see a sequel in the future. The biggest question will be as to if New Line will market the next one as a Conjuring film, unlike its predecessor.

Then there’s Jordan Peele‘s social slasher Us (read our review), which is sitting just $500,000 shy of an insane $250M global take on just a $20M budget. The film doesn’t beg for a sequel, but if Peele wanted one, there’s no world in which Universal or Blumhouse say no.

Lastly, let’s say a prayer for Hellboy (read our review), which only added $355,000 this past weekend and is flaming out at $21.5M domestically. A previous article on Deadline reported the international numbers opening in the $10M range, so a $40M total is likely. On a $50-$60M budget, this is a huge, huge, huge flop, unless Lionsgate and Millenium were to have sold international territories for tens of millions of dollars. The loss on this one looks to have exceeded $50M. Ouch.

The year is just getting started so it’ll be fun to see just how big horror can get by the time It: Chapter 2 hits theaters this coming September.

Horror movie fanatic who co-founded Bloody Disgusting in 2001. Producer on Southbound, V/H/S/2/3/94, SiREN, Under the Bed, and A Horrible Way to Die. Chicago-based. Horror, pizza and basketball connoisseur. Taco Bell daily. Franchise favs: Hellraiser, Child's Play, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, Scream and Friday the 13th. Horror 365 days a year.

Movies

Julia Garner Joins Horror Movie ‘Weapons’ from the Director of ‘Barbarian’

Published

on

'Apartment 7A' - Filming Wraps on ‘Relic’ Director's Next Starring “Ozark’s” Julia Garner!
Pictured: Julia Garner in 'We Are What We Are'

In addition to Leigh Whannell’s upcoming Universal Monsters movie Wolf Man, Julia Garner (The Royal Hotel) has also joined the cast of Weapons, THR has announced tonight.

Weapons is the new horror movie from New Line Cinema and director Zach Cregger (Barbarian), with Julia Garner joining the previously announced Josh Brolin (Dune 2).

The upcoming Weapons is from writer/director Zach Cregger, who will also produce alongside his Barbarian producing team: Roy Lee of Vertigo and J.D. Lifshitz and Raphael Margules of BoulderLight Pictures. Vertigo’s Miri Yoon also produces.

The Hollywood Reporter teases, “Plot details for Weapons are being kept holstered but it is described as a multi and inter-related story horror epic that tonally is in the vein of Magnolia, the 1999 actor-crammed showcase from filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson.”

Cregger was a founding member and writer for the New York comedy troupe “The Whitest Kids U’Know,” which he started while attending The School of Visual Arts. The award-winning group’s self-titled sketch comedy show ran for five seasons on IFC-TV and Fuse. He was also a series regular on Jimmy Fallon’s NBC series “Guys with Kids” and the TBS hit series “Wrecked,” and was featured in a recurring role on the NBC series “About a Boy.”

Weapons will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures.

Continue Reading