Movies
R.I.P. Special Effects Artist Carlo Rambaldi (1925-2012)
Italian special effects artist Carlo Rambaldi has passed away at the age of 86. He leaves behind an impressive legacy of films, many of which you have no doubt seen. Silver Bullet, King Kong (1976), Deep Red, The Hand, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, A Lizard In A Woman’s Skin, King Kong Lives, E.T. and more. He won Academy Awards for both Alien and E.T..
Anyone working in Hollywood can tell you just how difficult it is to come across an FX craftsman who is truly a master of their trade. Too often they look for easy ways out, hijack a film’s budget or just plain can’t deliver what on they promise. Judging by his work, Rambaldi was most certainly not that kind of guy. He made some of the most imaginative and realistic practical effects ever committed to film at a fraction of the cost someone with half the talent might charge today.
Head inside for a video featuring some of his career highlights (via Badass Digest).
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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