Movies
Ridley Scott Books His Crew For ‘Alien: Covenant’!
One of my favorite up-and-coming actresses is Amy Seimetz (pictured above), who appeared in my A Horrible Way to Die (directed by Adam Wingard), and has since gone on to do some phenomenal stuff such as AMC’s kick-ass “The Killing” and Upstream Color.
I am so excited to see that she’s joined the cast of Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant, alongside newcomers Jussie Smollett (“Empire”), Carmen Ejogo and Callie Hernandez (Machete Kills), reports Deadline. They all will be heading to the Engineer home planet with Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Demian Bichir and Danny McBride.
While it was reported that Noomi Rapace will not be returning as Dr. Elizabeth Shaw, there still has yet to be official confirmation.
“Bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, the crew of the colony ship Covenant discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise, but is actually a dark, dangerous world — whose sole inhabitant is the “synthetic” David (Fassbender), survivor of the doomed Prometheus expedition.”
Fox has set Alien: Covenant for theaters on Oct. 6, 2017.
As a recap: Late last year Scott also excited us all when he said, “We’ll have them all: egg, face-hugger, chest-burster, then the big boy.” He also explained that the film will reveal a destroyed Engineer planet, and also shared plans for an expanded universe that will eventually bridge directly into his 1979 Alien.
Alien: Covenant | via Fox
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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