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Josh Stolberg on ‘Piranha’ and ‘Sorority Row’, ‘Man-Witch’ a Go?!

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Screenwriter Josh Stolberg has updated his official blog with a whole bunch of goodies, all horror related. While he provides some insight into the now filming Piranha 3D and the forthcoming Sorority Row, he also revealed the news that his long-gestured Warner Bros. project Man-Witch is a go! Read on for the skinny.
From Josh Stolberg’s official blog:

I know, I know, I know, I know, I know…

I’ve been gone a while. I’ve received quite a few emails (which I haven’t replied to) and a bunch of IM’s (which I have rudely ignored). I’m sorry. Things have been incredibly busy as of late. I am hoping to start up my regular blog postings again. At least once a week for a while.

What’s new?

Sorority Row is PICTURE LOCKED!!! Very exciting. I’ve seen several screenings in the past two months and it’s gotten better and better. This last screening was great. I have high hopes for the movie. It’s everything I was hoping it would be. Scary. Funny. Tense. Stylish. Bloody. Sexy. I really think Stewart Hendler did a fantastic job with the directing. And after having a few movies made where I don’t feel real ownership over the script, this is one that I really feel came out how Pete and I wrote it. There were certainly many, many, many hands helping to make it better, but for the first time I feel like my script is represented fully and completely.

Pete and went out to Lake Havasu last week to spend some time on the Piranha set. It was a blast!!! I’ve seen a bunch of photos floating around on the internet from the shoot and it was as fun as it looks. Check out this link to see one of the first days we were there. That’s Kelly Brook and Riley Steele re-enacting a Girls Gone Wild shoot on the deck of a boat. Fun. We were able to meet and chat with most of the cast — unfortunately, we missed Richard Dreyfuss, but we met and hung out with Elisabeth Shue, Jessica Szohr, Jerr O’Connell, Ving Rhames, Adam Scott, Kelly Brook, Steven McQueen, Riley Steele and Cody Longo. More impressively, we got to hang out with Alex Aja, who I think is one of the best horror directors working today. High Tension was an amazing film and from what I saw on the set, he’s doing a really amazing job with Piranha. The film is going to be HUGE. One a couple of the days we were there, there were literally like 600 extras in bikinis and dozens of boats and cranes and scuba divers trampolines in the water. It was sick!!! So exciting to see it all come to life (especially considering that we finished the first draft of the script over five years ago). We also hung out with Alex’s producing partners Alix Taylor and Gregory Levasseur, two great folks who really made us feel welcome. All in all, it was a fun trip. We even spent an afternoon jet-skiing to one of the remote locations to see some of the second unit stuff getting shot in an amazing cove. So cool.

This week I’m on deadline to finish up with our final draft of The Spellman Files. As I think I’ve mentioned before, Barry Sonnenfeld is attached to direct and Paramount seems really gung-ho to get it greenlit. Our drafts have slowly been getting fewer and fewer notes from Barry, the studio, and our producers at Laura Ziskin Productions. That’s always a good sign. I think we’ll be turning in the draft to the studio this week.

Lastly, it’s looking like Man-Witch is a go at Warner Bros. I can’t say much about it at this point because the casting hasn’t been officially announced but it’s looking really, really good. More on that on an upcoming post.

I’m really sorry about the long delays since the last post. But check in soon and I’ll be posting more Q&As from my stockpiled email folders and also be answering some other longer questions that I’ve been getting about writing for television, some old Kids in America questions that have been in the hopper for a while, as well and a few more guest blogs and other fun stuff.

Be well and talk soon.

Josh

Horror movie fanatic who co-founded Bloody Disgusting in 2001. Producer on Southbound, V/H/S/2/3/94, SiREN, Under the Bed, and A Horrible Way to Die. Chicago-based. Horror, pizza and basketball connoisseur. Taco Bell daily. Franchise favs: Hellraiser, Child's Play, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, Scream and Friday the 13th. Horror 365 days a year.

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‘Abigail’ on Track for a Better Opening Weekend Than Universal’s Previous Two Vampire Attempts

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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.”

Abigail Melissa Barrera movie

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