Movies
Platinum Dunes Hires ‘Hauntrepreneur’ to Build Haunted House
Platinum Dunes has been having difficulty getting sequels to Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street off the ground, but trekking into the lighter fare appears to be working. With TMNT in development and Ouija lensing this summer under the direction of McG, Platinum Dunes is about to tell a horror tale for the entire family.
Paramount Pictures is in negotiations to pick up The Hauntrepreneur, an original spec by Scott Rosenberg, writes THR.
“The story centers on a family that has trouble adjusting to a new town and hires a peculiar man, the Hauntrepreneur, to help it. The man attempts to bring them together by creating a haunted house populated by an odd cast of characters.”
The tone is described as being similar to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which could be cool.
Rosenberg was a high-flying action writer who worked in the Jerry Bruckheimer stable, penning movies such as Con Air and Gone in Sixty Seconds before moving into TV.
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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