Movies
‘Contagion’ Writer Scott Burns Tackling Sequel To ‘Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes’
Scott Z. Burns (Contagion, The Informant) is set to start monkeying around with the script for Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes 2 any day now. An initial draft was written by the writers of last year’s film, Amanda Silver and Rick Jaffa. I actually think this is a great choice. Burns is a great writer who not only knows his diseases (something pointed out in the THR article), but can juggle multiple and complex storylines.
Per The Hollywood Reporter, “Scott Z. Burns has been tapped to work on Fox’s sequel to Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Chernin Entertainment is producing.”
The new film, “continues the story set forth in last year’s critical and commercial hit movie featuring simians that are given human intelligence and subsequently break out of their facility. At the same time, a virus breaks out that causes the collapse of human society. The new project is taking the story to the next level, with the apes on the path to emerge as society’s new rulers.”
Director Rupert Wyatt and mo-cap superstar Andy Serkis were previously announced to return.
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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