Movies
‘Maniac Cop 4’ Update, ‘Maniac’ Remake Announced
This past Friday director/DVD distributor William Lustig chatted with fans on Fangoria Radio where he revealed that he will not only be working on a fourth MANIAC COP film, but also will be remaking MANIAC, his first genre effort from 1980 where a schizoid serial killer randomly stalks and kills various young women in New York, which he sees as revenge for the mistreatment he got while being raised by his own abusive mother. Read on for the skinny!
“The MANIAC remake keeps threatening to happen,” Lustig told Fangoria Radio. “I’ve been talking [with various parties] for nine months to untangle the rights. I think it will happen.” Companies in the U.S. and Europe have been vying to update his gory slasher hit starring Joe Spinell, though Lustig admits that the late actor, who also co-produced the 1981 film, is irreplaceable. “I can’t imagine anyone else in that role,” he said.
While they work on getting this made, Lustig talked a bit about the progress of MANIAC COP 4:
“We’re going to reinvent the series with MANIAC COP 4,” Lustig said, adding that original actor Robet Z’Dar will not be donning the blue uniform again. “We want to start fresh. We replowed the field already.“
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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