Movies
Sony Infected With Airborne Virus During ‘Retreat’, First Image!
Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions has picked up all North American rights to Magnet Films’ thriller Retreat, which stars Cillian Murphy, Thandie Newton and Jamie Bell, reports Variety.
Carl Tibbetts makes his feature directorial debut on the film, which “finds Murphy and Newton heading to a remote island cottage to rebuild their frail marriage. When a wounded and armed stranger (Bell) shows up at their door with news about a deadly airborne virus, they must seal themselves inside the cottage, where the tension starts to escalate from psychological to physical.”
Magnet’s Gary Sinyor said: “The film is a very successful realization of a really strong script loaded with twists and turns and with great performances from our cast.”
Long synopsis and art inside.
“In a last-ditch attempt to save their faltering marriage, Martin & Kate (Cillian Murphy & Thandie Newton) return to a beautiful, yet remote and unpopulated Scottish island that is home to Fairweather Cottage. A place where they once shared a romantic holiday.
Despite the warmth of autumnal log fires, Kate and Martin find their relationship is still cool and things only get worse when they lose contact with the mainland, and find themselves inexplicably stranded.
One morning a bloodied military man appears seemingly out of nowhere with terrifying news –
a deadly airborne pandemic has broken out and is coming their way. Jack insists they seal themselves into the cottage to keep the fatal virus out.
Although unconvinced, Kate and Martin have little choice but to play along as Jack bit by bit seals the doors and windows. Even when he starts to board up the house, shutting them in entirely, Martin and Kate can’t agree on what to do.
With each nail that Jack hammers into the wooden doorframes, conflicts bubble to the surface, and Jack exploits the couple’s mistrust for his own ends.
But when Jack starts to turn abusive to Kate, she and Martin finally join forces to confront him.
In a series of tense twists the captive couple use all their ingenuity to try to escape from Jack, and from the retreat cottage that has become their prison.
And, just when it looks like they might gain the upper hand, a disturbing discovery turns everything upside down resulting in a violent and shocking conclusion.“
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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