Movies
Bekmambetov’s ‘Twilight Watch’ in Peril, Trilogy Doomed?
Originally announced as DUSK WATCH via 20th Century Fox, it has been nearly a year since Timur Bekmambetov’s Twilight Watch was conceived. The film was to be the final film in the Russian trilogy that began with the infamous NIGHT WATCH, only Bekmambetov went off to shoot WANTED for Universal Pictures instead. B-D reporter BC caught up with the director to find out exactly what is going on with the project, the news isn’t good…
While out doing promotional duties for his American debut, WANTED (which is a damn good movie), we asked director Timur Bekmambetov about the status of the next NIGHT WATCH film, aka TWILIGHT WATCH, which was announced way back when as the first English film in the franchise.
“It’s a big mess! I don’t know what will happen with this project,” he reveals to Bloody-Disgusting. “WANTED took its place. WANTED became the American version of NIGHT WATCH. So for the moment I am not doing this.”
Whether this means the film will never be made, or simply handed over to another director is unknown, but Timur seems worried about repeating himself so soon.
“I don’t know what I could add, how to make it different. Right now it would just be another Wanted.”
But he’s not entirely giving up on vampires; the visionary director still plans on filming THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR, which is about “vampires knights looking for the Holy Grail”. He’s also still producing the animated sci-fi/fantasy NINE with Tim Burton, so there will be plenty of Bekmambetov goodness to make up for the possible loss of Twilight Watch. And for DAY WATCH fans: we also asked which Timur thinks is a more powerful object: WANTED’S ‘Loom of Fate’ or DAY WATCH’S ‘Chalk of Destiny’. Timur laughed and then pondered it for a bit, before deciding that “The Chalk” was indeed more powerful.
WANTED hits theaters on June 27th, and Timur’s extraordinary WATCH films are hitting Blu-ray (Woo!) later this summer.
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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