Movies
Netflix Pays $65M+ for Exorcism Movie From Oscar-Nominated Director Lee Daniels!
Heads are spinning over at Netflix, the streaming service that just paid a whopping $65M+ for an exorcism movie from Oscar-nominated director Lee Daniels, reports Deadline.
The site said there was a massive bidding war for the star-studded exorcism movie package that will reunite Daniels with his Oscar-nominated The United States Vs Billie Holiday star Andra Day, who’ll star with Octavia Spencer (The Shape of Water, Ma), Glenn Close (Fatal Attraction), Rob Morgan (Don’t Look Up), Caleb McLaughlin (“Stranger Things”) and Aunjanue Ellis.
“Day will play the mother of an Indiana family whose children purportedly became demonically possessed in a thriller inspired by an actual case.”
Here’s the site’s breakdown of the true story that’s inspiring this mega-exorcism project:
“In a case widely covered at the time, Latoya Ammons and her three children experienced strange incidents in their Gary, Indiana home that grew progressively worse, with the children levitating, becoming violent with each other, and speaking in growls and deep voices with no recollection afterwards.
“Skeptics abounded, but the Gary Police Department, Department of Child Services and the local church and hospital all became involved, filing reports that took the supernatural occurrences seriously — officers, doctors and social workers said they witnessed many of the incidents, including one in which her 9-year old son walked backwards up a wall.
“The Indianapolis Star covered it closely, as the Department of Child Services investigated it.”
Dave Coggeshall wrote drafts as did Elijah Bynum. Then Daniels rewrote it himself and that is the script that buyers read. It uses the case to frame a fictional thriller, as was done with The Amityville Horror, The Exorcist, The Conjuring and other franchises purported to be based on or inspired by actual events, adds the site.
Daniels, Tucker Tooley and Pam Williams are producing. It is fast-tracked to begin production by the middle of this year.
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It | Photo Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
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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