Movies
Robert Rodriguez Targeting Existing Properties in New First-Look Deal With HBO Max
Robert Rodriguez is a genre friend who has directed everything from the vampire classic From Dusk till Dawn to The Faculty, Sin City, Grindhouse, and Machete, and even produced Predators.
The Austin-based filmmaker clearly had a relationship with Fox in the past, but has now inked a first-look deal HBO and HBO Max, reports Deadline. As part of the collaboration, Rodríguez will first bring projects to the cabler and streamer for potential development as original series.
Not normally news we’d run here on Bloody Disgusting, but there’s an extremely interesting quote from Rodriguez:
“It’s intriguing to be able to tap into the wealth of iconic IP available across the WarnerMedia portfolio and explore new stories to tell.”
He adds: “I’m looking forward to a meaningful collaboration with the high caliber creative talent at HBO and HBO Max who have proven they’re willing to take risks, challenge norms and tell inclusive stories while producing a wide breadth of quality content.”
What Rodriguez is essentially saying here is that he’s wanting to explore existing properties and put his own, fresh spin on them. In layman’s terms, an existing property could be anything from A Nightmare on Elm Street to Final Destination – essentially anything Warner Bros. has the rights to. Warners/New Line Cinema has quite a few horror properties in their library – fingers crossed that Rodriguez plays in our sandbox once again. Shit, he did just tease a brand new From Dusk till Dawn animated series…
In related news, just last week, Rodriguez made a deal with Cinedigm to reboot his El Rey Network for streaming.
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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