Movies
‘The Dark Tower’ Still Standing?
Between this and the Arrested Development movie Ron Howard seems to baiting eternal harassment from the fans of projects that are never really going to happen.
Universal Pictures pulled the plug on The Dark Tower last month but producer Brian Grazer is claiming that their (INSANELY HUGE) project will still go forward. Speaking to The New York Post’s Page Six Grazer insisted that he and Howard are “trying to get outside financing to make it, and distribute it through a major [studio].”
According to Grazer, the current plan is for Howard to shoot the epic three-part tale of Roland Deschain (Javier Bardem is apparently still attached) after shooting the racing movie Rush. This timetable would prime him to return to The Dark Tower sometime around June of next year.
Or, most probably, never.
Even though Grazer suggests that Uni dropping the property has opened them up to other distribution options for the TV Spin-Offs, the likelihood that the Theatrical Features that need to happen first will find the appropriate financing is pretty grim.
And before you cry out, “but what about Lord Of The Rings?” please realize that “The Dark Tower” series of books doesn’t carry the same cultural heft. Also, it’s been 13 years since LOTR was greenlit and A LOT has changed and The Hobbit is only getting made by the skin of its teeth. Blockbusters are more expensive to produce than ever and the scale of The Dark Tower just makes the whole damn thing too prohibitive.
You could pile 10 cash-rich investors on top of each other and still not be able to cover all the bases needed to make it happen.
These days we just don’t have enough crazy people like Bob Shaye around willing to light their money on fire.
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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