Movies
‘Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark’ Remake Finds Its First Resident
For those of you Guillermo del Toro purists out there, the first official casting came in this evening for Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, a thriller for Miramax Films that was scripted by Guillermo del Toro and Matthew Robbins. Beyond the break you see who will star in the latest big budget Hollywood remake going into production this summer under the helm of Troy Nixey.
Katie Holmes (Batman Begins) will star in “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark,” a thriller for Miramax Films that was scripted by Guillermo del Toro and Matthew Robbins, writes the Hollywood Reporter.
Del Toro is producing with Mark Johnson and the film will be directed by del Toro protege Troy Nixey.
Some interesting news is that the film will shoot this summer in Melbourne as a “Guillermo del Toro Presentation.”
“Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” is based on a 1973 ABC telepic about a young girl who moves in with her father and his girlfriend and discovers they are sharing the house with devilish creatures.
Nixey, a comicbook artist, is making his feature directing debut. Del Toro sparked to “Latchkey’s Lament,” a Nixey-directed short that captured the tone del Toro wanted for “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark.”
Del Toro and Johnson are also teamed with Gary Ungar to produce “Hater,” an adaptation of the David Moody horror novel that will be directed at Universal by Juan Antonio Bayona (“The Orphanage”).
Holmes most recently completed “The Extra Man,” directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini.
Del Toro is busy readying “The Hobbit,” which he’s writing with Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. That film shoots next year.
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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