Movies
The Orchard is Heading ‘Southbound’ With “Twilight Zone”-esque Anthology
I’m pretty excited to share the news, via TheWrap, that Southbound, a new anthology featuring Roxanne Benjamin, David Bruckner, Patrick Horvath and Radio Silence, has been sold to The Orchard!
I produced this new anthology (full disclosure) that’s being compared to “The Outer Limited” and “The Twilight Zone,” which is beyond humbling.
Southbound had its World Premiere in TIFF’s Midnight Madness program before screening at this September’s Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas.
In Southbound, “Five intertwining tales of terror unfold along an endless desert highway. On a desolate stretch of road, weary travelers — two men on the run from their past, a band on their way to the next gig, a man struggling to get home, a brother in search of his long-lost sister and a family on vacation — are forced to confront their worst fears and darkest secrets in these interwoven tales of terror and remorse on the open road.”
Radio Silence reunites after delivering fun scares with “10-31-98” in V/H/S and doing Devil’s Due for Fox. Bruckner, who is hard at work on the new Friday the 13th, directed by The Signal, as well as the “Amateur Night” segment from V/H/S. Benjamin produced V/H/S and V/H/S/2 with Tom and myself, and is making her directorial debut with Southbound. Horvath landed on our radar with his and Dallas Dallas Richard Hallam’s haunting indie Entrance.
“When we saw Southbound, we knew we were looking into the eyes of a much different animal,” said Paul Davidson, SVP of Film & TV at The Orchard. “Southbound is a slick and stylish film that will have audiences engrossed from the moment the engines kick into gear and we can’t wait to invite them to take that journey.”
The Orchard has been making waves in the independent film scene this year, acquiring and releasing a wide range of high-profile titles including, but not limited to, Patrick Brice‘s The Overnight starring Taylor Schilling, Adam Scott and Jason Schwartzman; Joe Swanberg-directed Digging for Fire starring Jake Johnson, Brie Larson and Anna Kendrick; and Matthew Heineman’s 2015 Sundance award winning documentary Cartel Land.
Expect Southbound to hit theaters and VOD near you in 2016.
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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