Movies
‘The Predator’ Ensemble Grows
Like it or not, The Predator is happening. The cast is growing and there’s no going back. But, it’s in good hands, with Shane Black at the helm.
Keegan-Michael Key of “Key and Peele” fame was the latest announced to hunt the Predator alongside Moonlight‘s Trevante Rhodes, Boyd Holbrook and Olivia Munn (X-Men: Age of Apocalypse).
Added to the ensemble is Sterling K. Brown, who broke out massively in “The People v. O.J. Simpson”.
It was debunked recently that the story sees the popular stalker alien, first seen in the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger pic titled simply Predator, in an environment that audiences have not seen: the suburbs. Nobody knows what the sequel is about, although Schwarzenegger is rumored to return to his role.
Black is directing the project and wrote the script with Fred Dekker. A shooting start later this winter is being planned.
Fox has set a release date for The Predator for February 9th, 2018.
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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