Movies
Who Is Nolan Funk And Why Is He In ‘Riddick’?
I always forget that Riddick is actually happening. But it is! David Twohy is currently directing the Vin Diesel starrer which recently resumed production after taking a two-month hiatus to deal with production cost issues.
Who is Nolan Funk? Per Variety he’s a fellow who “can be seen next in the Bold Films pic ‘Evidence’ and just wrapped the co-lead role in the ABC Family pilot “Intercept.” ”
Why is he in Riddick? I have no idea. Neither does Variety it seems. We know that Katee Sackhoff plays Dahl, a Nordic mercenary tracking Riddick. We also know that Jordi Malla plays Santana, a mercenary who heads up an eight-man crew tasked with finding and killing Riddick.
Maybe Funk is another guy tracking down Riddick? Or perhaps he’s an intergalactic anime karaoke star? Because he’s kind of got that Robotech pop star thing going on in the pic below. 
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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