Movies
New Images, Details on Romero’s ‘Survival of the Dead’
As you may have saw in the previous news post, it was announced that George Romero’s next film, which has jokingly been called …of the Dead, has received the official title of Survival of the Dead. In addition, a stack of new images have been posted on the TIFF website as the film will have its WORLD premiere at the “Midnight Madness” section come September. The latest zombie opus follows a war-weary band of soldiers who are lured to a remote island that promises to be the last paradise on earth, only to discover that even here there is no escape from the appetites of either the living or the dead.
“We’re overjoyed to welcome George back into the dark hallowed halls of Midnight Madness,” says International Programmer, Colin Geddes. “And on a personal note, it’s a thrill for my inner ten-year-old, who rolled pennies to buy a VHS copy of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD.”
Says Romero, “We’re in the final stages of post-production and it’s great to come up for air and find out the film’s been chosen to appear at the Festival. It’s just a terrific honor.”
Click the image for all of the new stills:
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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