Movies
Universal Bringing Back ‘The Mummy’ as a Woman?
Universal is working hard on reviving their cherished monster films from the early 20th century, beginning with a new take on The Mummy, which originally featured Boris Karloff as the title character. However, now THR is reporting that director Alex Kurtzman and writer Jon Spaihts have a new vision in mind, one that sees the mummy being a female, “…with a unique backstory“.
Per the site, the film will be set in modern day and there are two stories being considered, one where the mummy is female and one where it’s male. The decision, it’s being said, will ultimately come down to who they feel is best to portray the character.
Universal’s goal here is to create a new kind of interwoven franchise based upon the original monster films, with remakes/reboots for Dracula, Frankenstein, and more.
Personally, I don’t see a problem with this. There are plenty of examples of mummified women, so creating a movie based on that foundation makes 100% sense. Additionally, we’ve seen mummy movies with men as the creature. Perhaps something like this will inject something new and exciting into the concept. What are your thoughts?
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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