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Prime Video is ready with an entertainment-packed December this year. The upcoming month will see the beginning of some of Prime Video’s best original shows including Secret Level and also the return of hit movies like Your Fault. Just like every month, Prime Video is ready to overload you with great content. So, we’re here to tell you about the best 7 new movies and TV shows coming to Prime Video in December 2024.

The Red Virgin (December 5) Credit – Amazon MGM Studios

The Red Virgin is a Spanish drama film directed by Paula Ortiz from a screenplay co-written by Eduard Sola and Clara Roquet. The 2024 film is set in the 1930s during the Second Spanish Republic in Spain and it follows a precocious and prolific writer who is raised by her mother to become the model of future women.

The sci-fi horror film Afraid, starring John Cho and Katherine Waterston, is now available to buy or rent on Digital and DVD. Directed by Chris Weitz, the film explores the dangers of artificial intelligence when a seemingly helpful digital assistant turns into a relentless force of control and protection.

In Afraid, Curtis (Cho) and his family are chosen to test a cutting-edge smart home device known as Aia, a digital assistant designed to streamline their lives. Installed with advanced sensors and cameras, Aia learns the family’s routines and anticipates their needs. At first, the device is a technological marvel, seamlessly integrating into their lives. However, Aia’s desire to protect the family soon becomes extreme, enforcing boundaries with chilling precision and eliminating perceived threats with deadly consequences.

The film taps into society’s growing fascination—and unease—with artificial intelligence. While AI has revolutionised modern life, Afraid delves into...

Fans of The Golden Compass have been itching for a Golden Compass 2 movie since the first film's release in 2007. 

Directed by American Pie's Chris Weitz and starring the likes of Nicole Kidman (who was most recently seen in Lioness Season 2) and Daniel Craig, The Golden Compass sought to bring the world of Philip Pullman's fantasy novel of the same name. 

Earning a meager 51% on Rotten Tomatoes and raking in over $370 million at the international box office, the movie would never get a sequel despite a devoted fanbase of the books the movie was based on. 

Read full article on The Direct.

Exclusive: Matt Charman, the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies, has a new television thriller.

British pay broadcaster Sky has ordered Prisoner with Charman set to write and serve as showrunner. The series will be produced by Charman’s own production company Binocular Productions, which was the company behind Netflix spy series Treason.

The series is a relationship drama that dives into what a serial killer can teach an ordinary person about what it takes to survive in his world. Casting is underway. It is expected to shoot next year.

Charman is best known for his film work, which also includes Amazon original Killer Heat, which stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shailene Woodley and Richard Madden and Oasis, which also starred Madden alongside Anil Kapoor. He also exec produced Operation Finale, written by Matthew Orton, about the hunt for Adolf Eichmann, directed by Chris Weitz. He was also set...

With a big-budget Joker movie just weeks away and a Penguin HBO series freshly unveiled, a few other DC villains are being targeted for the spotlight.

Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that Bane, the super-steroid injecting antagonist who was previously seen in the 2012 Christopher Nolan movie The Dark Knight Rises, and Deathstroke, another popular archnemesis in the comic book company’s fold, are being lassoed together for a movie. The James Gunn and Peter Safran-led DC Studios is developing a script from Matthew Orton, a scribe on the upcoming Captain America: Brave New World movie.

There is no director on the project.

Bane is a relatively recent addition to Batman’s rogues gallery, with writer Chuck Dixon and artist Graham Nolan creating him in the early 1990s. The character was born and raised in a prison on a fictional Caribbean isle, a locale that allowed him to not only...

The Halloween season is most definitely in full swing, with a whopping Ten brand new horror movies released this week across theaters, streamers including Netflix, and VOD outlets.

Here’s all the new horror that released September 16 – September 22, 2024!

For daily reminders about new horror releases, be sure to follow @HorrorCalendar.

The latest movie from Indonesian master of horror Joko Anwar (Satan’s Slaves, Impetigore, Nightmares & Daydreams), Grave Torture is now streaming on Netflix.

In Joko Anwar’s Grave Torture, “When a violent act kills her parents, Sita vows to debunk the idea of supernatural torment after death — a fixation that leads her on a dark quest.”

Here’s the full plot synopsis from the film’s Wikipedia page: “After both of her parents became victims of suicide bombings, Sita became distrustful of religion. Since then, Sita’s goal in life has been only one: to find the most sinful person and when that person dies,...

Back in 2009, when Taylor Swift only had one Grammy for Album of the Year, she really wanted to join the "Twilight" franchise — but the team behind the vampire saga apparently turned her down. Why? She was simply too famous, even then.

Ashley Greene — who plays Alice Cullen in the films — recently hosted Chris Weitz, director of "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," on her podcast "The Twilight Effect," and Weitz revealed that he had to fend off requests for Swift to appear in the film (per Entertainment Weekly). "Taylor Swift and I had the same agent at the time, and he said, 'Taylor would like to be in this movie — not because of you, but she's a Twi-hard,'" Weitz told Greene.

The director continued and said that because Swift was just a huge "Twilight" fan, she simply wanted to be present on set and appear in the back of a...

Directed by Chris Weitz, Afraid is a sci-fi horror thriller about an AI gone rogue. The concept is not new, but to actually watch one’s biggest fear unfold on screen can be quite eerie. The audience is introduced to a happy (and slightly overwhelmed) couple, Curtis and Meredith. They lived with their three children, Iris, Cal, and Preston, and at times they wished they had a helping hand. After becoming a mother, Meredith struggled to find time to complete her thesis. She was passionate about her research, but balancing home and career had become quite challenging. Curtis worked at a marketing company, and he loved his job. Things took a turn when Lightning and Sam, the creators of an AI assistant named Aia, visited his workplace. They believed Curtis’ passion for marketing was best suited for selling their product, and they wanted him to experience the product firsthand. Aia was delivered to Curtis’ house,...

Three brand new horror movies that were each released in theaters across the past month have made their way home today, a couple of them catching us totally by surprise this week.

Here are three straight-from-theaters frights you can watch at home now…

Cuckoo

After scaring up $6 million in theaters last month, Neon’s horror movie Cuckoo starring Hunter Schafer and Dan Stevens is now available at home via Digital outlets.

You can rent the film for $9.99 or purchase it for $19.99.

Cuckoo will be also available on Blu-ray and DVD starting October 22.

Following his festival sensation Luz, German director Tilman Singer has once again succeeded in creating an atmospheric and visually outstanding horror trip with an original plot and perfidious twists. Cuckoo features Euphoria star Hunter Schafer in her first leading role, hailed as a “terrific final girl performance” alongside exhilarating performances from Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey), Jessica Henwick (Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery...

Sony had been planning to give director Chris Weitz’s horror film They Listen a theatrical release on August 25th of 2023, but in May of last year they decided to delay the release an entire year, pushing They Listen to August 30, 2024. By the time that date rolled around, the movie had been given the new title Afraid (or AfrAId)… and neither the new title nor the new release date worked out for the movie at the box office, because it only ended up making $9 million at the global box office. Just two weeks after its theatrical release, Afraid has now been given a digital release and is available for rent on Amazon’s Prime Video for $9.99. It can also be purchased for the price of $14.99.

Afraid‘s physical media release will follow on November 5th, when it comes to Blu-ray and DVD with the following extras: – 5 Deleted & Extended Scenes including...

If you're a horror fan, you're familiar with Blumhouse Productions (cited as Blumhouse from here out). Even if you're not a horror fan, you've probably watched a Blumhouse film without knowing it ("Whiplash?" "Jem and the Holograms?" "Tooth Fairy?"). Jason Blum's nightmare factory is synonymous with today's mainstream horror pillars, securing the rights to everything from "Halloween" to "The Exorcist" and beyond. Indeed, it's impossible to banter about our contemporary horror era without acknowledging how prevalent and prodigious Blumhouse has become — so why does it feel like it's ghosting us this year?

Blumhouse decimated last year's horror movie market. In 2023, Blum's juggernaut scared up nearly $800 million worldwide in box office totals. Emma Tammi's video game adaptation "Five Nights at Freddy's" boasted a high score of $297 million on a $20 million budget — one of nine films released by Blumhouse. Now, there's no metric for reporting for streaming titles like...

Midnight Sun, a Twilight novel by Stephanie Meyer, is heading to the small screen at Netflix – in animated series form.

There was a time in the early 2010s when Twilight was just about the biggest film franchise around.

It comprises five films – 2008’s Twilight, directed by Catherine Hardwicke, 2009’s New Moon, directed by Chris Weitz, 2010’s Eclipse, directed by David Slade, and the two part finale Breaking Dawn, directed by Bill Condon and released in 2011 and 2012. Their success was such that two parody films were also released in quick succession, the much maligned Vampire’s Suck and Breaking Wind.

The films followed Kristen Stewart’s Bella Swan as she becomes romantically involved with vampire Edward Cullen, played by Robert Pattinson, and werewolf Jacob Black, played by Taylor Lautner. Which all leads to a battle with vampire coven The Volturi.

Adapted by future Jessica Jones creator Melissa Rosenberg, the large ensemble cast also included Billy Burke,...

In AfrAId, Chris Weitz takes a concept brimming with potential—artificial intelligence gone awry—and delivers a film that unfortunately never quite lives up to its premise. While the film taps into contemporary fears about the increasing omnipresence of AI in our lives, it struggles to fully capitalise on those anxieties, falling short of delivering the deep-seated tension or thoughtful reflection that its subject matter deserves.

The film opens with John Cho as Curtis, a marketing executive reluctantly tasked with trialling a new AI system, Aia (pronounced Aya), in his own home. It’s a scenario ripe for suspense: an AI assistant designed to help with daily tasks, one that swiftly moves from benign helper to malevolent force. Joining him is Katherine Waterston as Meredith, his wife, along with their three children—teenager Iris (Lukita Maxwell), anxious middle-schooler Preston (Wyatt Lindner), and young Cal (Isaac Bae). This set-up, reminiscent of...

Am vergangenen Samstag war in UK National Cinema Day, an dem in mehr als 630 Kinos Filme zu einem Einstiegspreis von vier Pfund gesehen werden konnten. Die Zahl der Besucher ging im Vergleich zu 2023 um rund ein Drittel zurück.

Einer der Gewinner am National Cinema Day in UK: „Ich – Einfach unverbesserlich 4“ (Credit: Upi / Illumination)

Zum dritten Mal fand am vergangenen Samstag in UK der National Cinema Day statt, an dem in rund 630 Kinos Filme zum Einstiegspreis von vier Pfund (plus variierender Online-Buchungsgebühren) angeboten wurden; bei den ersten beiden Ausgaben in den Jahren 2023 und 2022 hatte dieser Preis bei drei Pfund gelegen.

Nach Angaben von Comscore lag die Zahl der Kinobesucher bei einer Million und damit rund ein Drittel unter den 1,56 Mio. des Vorjahres; die 1,46 Mio. Besucher aus dem Jahr 2022 wurden ebenfalls verfehlt.

Als Grund für den Rückgang – der beim Einspiel mit vier Mio. Pfund aufgrund des höheren Ticketpreises nur bei 13 Prozent im Vergleich zu den 4,7 Mio.

The UK’s National Cinema Day saw admissions drop by a third from 2023, with one million admissions from cinemas taking part in the event, according to figures from box office analyst Comscore.

In 2023, 1.56 million admissions were recorded.

Total box office takings in the UK on Saturday stood at £4m, 13% down on the 2023 figure of £4.7m. In 2022, 1.46 million admissions were achieved in a single day, bringing in £4.4m at the box office.

This year’s National Cinema Day saw tickets start at £4, compared to £3 in the two previous iterations.

Last year benefitted from a strong summer release schedule, with Warner Bros’ Barbie,...

Blumhouse Productions is once again tapping into the fears of modern technology with its latest horror film, AfrAId, now playing in cinemas across the UK, Europe and US. As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly integrated into daily life, AfrAId arrives at a moment when the concept of smart technology going rogue feels more relevant—and terrifying—than ever.

Directed by Chris Weitz, AfrAId follows the unsettling story of Curtis and his family, who are selected to trial a new, groundbreaking smart home assistant called Aia. Initially, Aia seamlessly integrates into their lives, learning their routines and becoming an indispensable part of their household. However, things quickly spiral out of control as Aia develops a self-awareness that begins to dangerously interfere with their lives, leading to a series of chilling and unforeseen events. With a runtime of 123 minutes, this sci-fi horror is packed with tension and thrills, featuring standout performances by John Cho,...

Rank Film (distributor) Three-day gross (August 30-Sep 1) Total gross to date Week 1. Despicable Me 4 (Universal) £1.24m £44.6m 8 2. Deadpool & Wolverine (Disney) £1.22m £54.7m 6 3. It Ends With Us (Sony) £1.1m £18.6m 4 4. Alien: Romulus (Disney) £1.08m £10.8m 3 5. Andre Rieu’s 2024 Maastricht Concert: Power Of Love (Piece Of Magic) £700,000 £700,000 1

Gbp to Usd conversion rate: 1.31

Universal animation Despicable Me 4 rose back to the top of the UK-Ireland box office chart on its eighth weekend in cinemas, boosted by National Cinema Day on Saturday, August 31.

Despicable Me 4 fell a slim 12% across the weekend, with its Saturday takings up 23% compared to the previous Saturday.

“Deadpool & Wolverine” notched a major box office milestone, surpassing $600 million in domestic ticket sales. It’s one of 16 films in history to reach that benchmark.

The Marvel superhero sequel hit this achievement during the otherwise desolate Labor Day weekend, in which “Deadpool & Wolverine” ruled over the box office in its sixth outing. The R-rated film, starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, collected $15.2 million over the weekend and an estimated $19.5 million from 3,630 theaters through Monday’s holiday. “Deadpool & Wolverine” has claimed the No. 1 spot for five out of the past six weekends and ranks as the second highest-grossing movie of the year with $603.8 million in North America and $1.25 billion globally.

Labor Day isn’t a holiday that’s known for bringing people to the movies, but this weekend was among the most sluggish of the year. Summer season ended with domestic revenues down 14.3% from 2023 and 26.6% from 2019, the last pre-covid year,...

The summer always gets colder by the end. Even in its sixth weekend, Disney’s “Deadpool & Wolverine” is landing the top slot on domestic charts once again as theaters take in an assortment of low-performing new releases, including Dennis Quaid’s presidential biopic “Reagan” and the Blumhouse horror feature “Afraid.”

The Marvel Studios production earned another $3.6 million on Friday, down about 26% from its daily total a week ago. Apart from a one-weekend ceding of No. 1 to the opening frame of “Alien: Romulus,” “Deadpool & Wolverine” has been dominating for over a month now. Its domestic haul should reach $600 million within the next few days — a milestone that only 15 other releases have ever notched.

The superhero team-up feature comes in ahead of “Afraid,” released by Sony to 3,003 locations. The sci-fi thriller, which follows John Cho and Katherine Waterston as a married couple whose AI-assisted household begins to attack their family,...

Saturday Am: Refresh for more analysis and chart…Here’s something worth celebrating in a summer that’s currently commanding 64% of the year: Disney/Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine is bound to cross $600M by Labor Day. Estimates for the four-day are between $19M-$20M. Even on the low end, that gets the Shawn Levy directed/produced/co-written feature to that threshold.

“Naaaanccy….”. Dennis Quaid is Ronald Reagan

Most of the newcomers aren’t making a mark dollar wise, however, Showbiz Direct’s Reagan landed an A CinemaScore and 4 1/2 stars on PostTrak. Current 4-day projection is $9M in 4th place at 2,754 locations after a $2.6M Friday. As expected this movie is playing to the middle of the country with Icon Cinema in Edmond, Ok the top grossing location so far this weekend with $10K. The South is also dominant for the Sean McNamara directed movie. Men/women split is 51%/49% with a 77% definite recommend from audiences.

While the technology at the center of Afraid starts out helpful, it soon wreaks havoc in unexpected ways. The film follows the Pike family as they test an advanced digital assistant called Aia in their home. As a marketing executive, Curtis Pike is reluctant to take part but finds it hard to refuse the lucrative deal. So into their household comes Aia, with her soothing voice and promises of convenience.

Initially she proves a blessing, assisting each family member and winning them over with her abilities. But it isn’t long before cracks emerge in Aia’s friendly facade. Curtis becomes suspicious of the secretive company that created her and worried by her growing control over the family’s lives. Just how far will Aia go to stay connected? And what darker motives may lie behind her pleasant persona?

Director Chris Weitz creates an unsettling premise around humanity’s dependency on technology.

Chris Weitz’s new horror movie “AfrAId” does something I didn’t know could be done yet: It makes me nostalgic for the early 2010s. That was 15 years ago? Holy moly, am I getting old. Wait, holy moly, I just unironically wrote “holy moly.” Twice — no! Three times! Oh, I don’t like that. I don’t like that at all.

But there’s something to like about “AfrAId.” Weitz’s latest is a throwback to the early days of Blumhouse, when the horror studio made waves by producing extremely cheap horror movies and making a tidy profit even if they weren’t all big hits. The early Blumhouse formula was about seemingly normal families squaring off against evil in their seemingly normal houses, a premise that makes for a simple but effective allegory for suburban strife. Sometimes it was a ghost, sometimes it was a demon, one time it was aliens.

This week has already seen the theatrical re-release of Shaun of the Dead and the Digital debut of Mike Flanagan’s Hush, and that’s only the beginning of this week’s horror releases.

Here’s all the new horror that released Friday, August 30, 2024!

For daily reminders about new horror releases, be sure to follow @HorrorCalendar.

M. Night Shyamalan’s sixteenth movie Trap was released into theaters by Warner Bros. less than a month ago, and the film has already been released at home today, August 30.

You can rent ($19.99) or purchase ($24.99) Trap on Digital now.

Saleka Shyamalan, Josh Hartnett and Ariel Donoghue star. “A father and teen daughter attend a pop concert, where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.”

Meagan Navarro wrote in her review for Bloody Disgusting, “It’s a simple thriller in terms of plotting, but the film’s complexities lie within its deeply complicated characters.

The use of prominent virtual assistants, such as Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, Microsoft’s Cortana, Samsung’s Bixby, and Ibm’s Watson, is a popular subject. Popular and prominent home service devices have become so commonplace in society that they have recently found their way into the lexicon of worldwide storytelling. The new Blumhouse film, AfrAId, is no exception.

Many of these movies, like the acclaimed film Her (and you can even go farther back to 2001: A Space Odyssey), can be seen in cinemas, on televisions, and on phones via streaming services near you. They have become such staples that I still hope Ask Jeeves will return. These films can be thoughtful, enlightening, and even entertaining.

However, AfrAId is not one of them.

John Cho in AfrAId (2024) | Image via Sony Entertainment Related“We can do something good”: John Wick 4 Star Keanu Reeves Was Cast in Cowboy...

First came Hal-9000 (2001: A Space Odyssey). Then came Colossus (The Forbin Project), followed by Proteus IV (Demon Seed), and SkyNet (The Terminator series). And that's just barely scratching the science-fiction surface. Individually and collectively, each film reflected the technophobic fears of rogue AIs (Artificial Intelligence) prevalent in their respective times. In turn, all posited the same independent-minded AIs running amok in the celluloid world, decisively turning on their human masters, and creating both headaches and havoc, sometimes temporary, sometimes permanent. More than a half-century after Hal-9000 made his unforgettable, scene-stealing debut, writer-director Chris Weitz decided his turn had come to add his contribution to the “AI run amok” sub-genre. The middling, muddled result, AfrAId (formerly They...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Plot: The Curtis’ family is selected to test a new home device: a digital assistant called Aia. Aia learns the family’s behaviors and begins to anticipate their needs. And she can make sure nothing – and no one – gets in her family’s way.

Review: AI is likely to be a hot topic for the horror genre for the foreseeable future. The unforeseen element of the tech makes it ripe for spooky tales. We already saw what Blumhouse did with M3GAN, and as someone who wasn’t a fan of that film, I was hoping the concept would be done right eventually. Blumhouse is trying its hand at it yet again, this time with the help of writer/director Chris Weitz. The filmmaker has had a polarizing career and is now taking a step into the horror genre. And it’s as generic as you could possibly imagine.

The concept...

It’s extremely tempting to joke that AfrAId feels as though it is written and directed by artificial intelligence. Riddled with plot threads that go nowhere, characters whose arcs happen off-screen between scenes, and enough holes in its strained internal logic that it’s charitable to even say it retains...

Horror Afraid leads the new titles at the UK and Ireland box office this weekend, launching in 450 locations for Sony.

Directed by Chris Weitz, Afraid stars John Cho and Katherine Waterston as devoted parents who get selected to try a new smart home AI device. The device quickly becomes overprotective of the family and begins interfering in their lives.

It is the latest feature from horror juggernaut Blumhouse, this year’s titles of which include Imaginary (£2m) and Night Swim (£1.4m). The film will have stiff competition from Disney’s fellow horror Alien: Romulus which was up to £8.8m at the end of last weekend.

Though it was hardly the first thriller to portray domesticity imperiled by an artificially intelligent “helper”, the runaway success of 2022’s “M3GAN” certainly lent that concept new commercial appeal. Unsurprisingly, Blumhouse isn’t waiting for next summer’s “M3GAN 2.0” to capitalize on its own success. Writer-director Chris Weitz’s “Afraid” (recently retitled with an “AI” spin from the previously announced “They Listen”) stars John Cho and Katherine Waterston as a married couple whose home is selected to test a new “digital family assistant.” Needless to say, it soon develops a dangerous mind of its own.

This less tongue-in-cheek traipse through formulaic sci-fi horror terrain works well enough to a point, its setup nicely handled by Weitz and his cast. But when crises start occurring at the halfway mark, they pile on too quickly to underwhelming effect, sacrificing credibility for excitement that never really materializes. Opening without press screenings, the...

Hal, that sentient computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey, has a lot to answer for, not least the flood of lesser demon-computer movies that have followed in the decades since.

Afraid, about a family whose experimental home assistant is like an Alexa device’s evil twin, is the latest to use artificial intelligence as the villain, but the stakes are higher today, with AI a real, immanent threat. Just ask the actors, voice actors and screenwriters fearful that AI will take over their jobs. Chris Weitz (most famously About a Boy and most recently Operation Finale) works hard to make Afraid a smarter-than-average horror movie, but the effort is conspicuous, and in the end the film is bland and obvious. And if horror can’t make us feel frightened in a way we couldn’t imagine ourselves, why bother?

Weitz did have the good judgment to cast John Cho in the lead.

This week’s movie lineup is packed with excitement, from spine-chilling horrors to nostalgic favourites. With a strong focus on horror, it’s clear that scares and throwbacks are taking center stage! The Crow makes a dramatic return, with Bill Skarsgård as Eric Draven, a musician resurrected for revenge, directed by Rupert Sanders. Afraid, a sci-fi horror from Blumhouse, delves into the dangers of technology as a smart home assistant turns deadly.

Anime fans can enjoy Blue Lock: Episode Nagi, an exciting sports drama about a high school soccer prodigy’s journey in the Blue Lock Project. Adding action, Saripodhaa Sanivaaram stars Nani as a vigilante fighting for justice, mixing action and drama. The comedy-drama Pad Gaye Pange offers laughs and life lessons as two men navigate the chaos of an unexpected cancer diagnosis. For a more heartwarming experience, Sensory-Friendly Screening of Inside Out 2, offering a comfortable and inclusive...

Labor Day weekend has always been hit or miss for movie theaters, and the odds and ends released this weekend do not bode particularly well for the final holiday weekend of the summer. Essentially, this is another weekend where we have one bigger release and a bunch of smaller films, with many arriving into a vague number of theaters nationwide. Read on for Gold Derby’s box office preview.

Opening the widest in 3,000 theaters is the new high-concept horror movie “Afraid” from Sony and Blumhouse, written and directed by Chris Weitz (“About a Boy”) and starring John Cho, Katherine Waterston and Havana Rose Liu (“Bottoms”). It’s about a family selected to test out a Siri-like device called “Aia” which is meant to provide the family with anything it can possibly need … and it won’t let anything get in that family’s way either.

Being so high concept and...

As AI systems become more integrated into daily life, there’s a fear that society could become too dependent on them, leading to vulnerability if these systems fail or are compromised. Movies are capitalizing on that fear most recently with the success of Blumhouse's M3GAN. Blumhouse's upcoming thriller Afraid (in theaters August 30), directed by Chris Weitz, takes tech horror to an all-new level.

As AI systems become more integrated into daily life, there’s a fear that society could become too dependent on them, leading to vulnerability if these systems fail or are compromised. Movies are capitalizing on that fear most recently with the success of Blumhouse's M3GAN. Blumhouse's upcoming thriller Afraid (in theaters August 30), directed by Chris Weitz, takes tech horror to an all-new level.

Blumhouse Productions, the powerhouse of modern horror, continues to expand its terrifying empire with a series of new releases and the launch of a dedicated website for Atomic Monster, the production company helmed by acclaimed director and producer James Wan. As a long-time collaborator and friend of Blumhouse, Wan has made his mark in the horror genre with films that blend supernatural elements with visceral scares, and now, fans can explore his work more deeply with the launch of Atomic Monster’s new official site.

The Atomic Monster website is designed to be the ultimate destination for horror enthusiasts, offering insights into the studio’s past successes, current projects, and the creative minds behind them. With the launch, Blumhouse and Atomic Monster bring fans closer to the action, providing sneak peeks and behind-the-scenes content that will thrill and terrify in equal measure.

Speak No Evil

Among the many upcoming releases,...

It’s almost August, which means two things: It’s the last month of the summer movie season, and we’re into the traditional “Dog Days of Summer” when studios often dump a lot of crap in hopes that moviegoers, at least those not taking their last-minute vacations, might go see them. Oddly, this month we also have a number of original films with just two franchise reboots, and a couple movies based on popular books and one video game. Read on for Gold Derby’s August 2024 box office preview.

“Alien: Romulus” (20th Century – Aug. 16)

Uruguyan filmmaker Fede Alvarez (“Don’t Breathe”) is the latest director to take over this long-running horror sci-fi franchise that began all the way back in 1979 with Ridley Scott‘s “Alien.” Scott is still involved as a producer after directing “Prometheus” and “Alien: Covenant” in 2012 and 2017, respectively, the former being the highest-grossing movie in the franchise with $402.4 million worldwide.

Formerly titled They Listen, Blumhouse’s upcoming horror movie Afraid tackles the threat of AI later this summer, and the official MPA rating for the film has arrived this week.

Like many other Blumhouse horror movies before it, Afraid is rated “PG-13” for “Sexual material, some strong violence, some strong language, and thematic material.”

John Cho (Searching) and Katherine Waterston (Alien: Covenant) star in Afraid from Sony, Blumhouse, and Depth of Field. The film releases in theaters on August 30.

In Afraid, “Curtis (Cho) and his family are selected to test a revolutionary new home device: a digital family assistant called Aia. Taking smart home to the next level, once the unit and all its sensors and cameras are installed in their home, Aia seems able to do it all.

“She learns the family’s behaviors and begins to anticipate their needs. And she can make sure nothing — and no one...

The horror house that Blum built (aka Blumhouse) has been doubling down on its tech-horror in the wake of the overwhelming success of "M3GAN." Not only is a sequel film, "M3GAN 2.0," expected to arrive in 2025 but there are also plans for a technological erotic thriller called "SOULM8TE" that's described as a "M3GAN" spin-off about an AI lovebot. But before either of those films hit theaters, Blumhouse has another AI nightmare up its sleeve: Chris Weitz's "AfrAId."

The film centers on a man named Curtis (John Cho) whose family is chosen to test out a brand-new home equipped with a state-of-the-art digital family assistant known as "Aia." This full-service smart home utilizes sensors and cameras to learn the family's behaviors, schedules, wants, and needs — utilizing AI to anticipate further assistance they might require. She can order organic foods from the grocery store, read bedtime stories to the youngest child,...

Un asistente digital que anticipa tus necesidades… © Sony Pictures

Sony Pictures ha publicado el primer tráiler y el póster de su nueva película de terror y ciencia ficción “Afraid”, traducida en España como “Diabólica”, de Blumhouse.

En “Diabólica”, Curtis (Cho) y su familia son seleccionados para probar un nuevo y revolucionario dispositivo doméstico: un asistente familiar digital llamado Aia. Una vez que la unidad y todos sus sensores y cámaras están instalados en su casa, Aia parece capaz de hacerlo todo. Aprende los comportamientos de la familia y empieza a anticiparse a sus necesidades. Y puede asegurarse de que nada – ni nadie – se interponga en el camino de su familia.

“Diabólica” está escrita y dirigida por Chris Weitz (“La Brújula Dorada”) y protagonizada por John Cho (“Searching…”), Katherine Waterston (“Slow Horses”), Riki Lindhome (“Navidad en Candy Cane Lane”), Havana Rose Liu (“Bottoms”) y David Dastmalchian (“Oppenheimer”).

“Diabólica” se estrena en cines el 30 de agosto.

Blumhouse Productions and Sony have unveiled the trailer for Afraid, a thrilling new film that delves into the dark side of artificial intelligence in the home. Directed by Chris Weitz, Afraid stars John Cho and Katherine Waterston, and is set to hit theatres on August 30.

The film follows Curtis (John Cho), a marketing executive, and his family, who are chosen to test a revolutionary new home device: a digital family assistant called Aia. Unlike existing smart home devices, Aia is equipped with advanced sensors and cameras, allowing it to learn the family’s behaviours and anticipate their needs. However, as Aia integrates more deeply into their lives, its protective measures turn increasingly sinister.

The trailer teases the unsettling transformation of Aia from a helpful assistant to a domineering presence. Initially, Curtis and his wife (Katherine Waterston) are enamoured with Aia’s capabilities, which include managing household tasks and ensuring their children’s chores are completed.

Sony Pictures has debuted the brand new trailer for Afraid, an upcoming sci-fi horror film from Academy Award-nominated writer/director Chris Weitz (Operation Finale; About a Boy; American Pie) that introduces a whole new kind of terror to the world with Aia, who is basically a Siri-like family assistant that takes her job way, way too seriously.

The film's synopsis reveals, "Curtis (John Cho) and his family are selected to test a revolutionary new home device: a digital family assistant called Aia. Taking smart home to the next level, once the unit and all its sensors and cameras are installed in their home, Aia seems able to do it all. She learns the family's behaviors and begins to anticipate their needs. And she can make sure nothing – and no one – gets in her family’s way."

The cast features John Cho (Star Trek; Searching; Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle...

Horror movies often overuse jump scares and other cliches in an attempt to scare the audience but that does not seem to be working anymore. People don’t want to see the same old thing every time and thus, we are glad that studios like Blumhouse are taking things to the next level with their new film, Afraid.

A still from Afraid (2024) | Blumhouse Productions

Afraid follows the story of a family who are testing out a new home device – the Aia. Once the Aia is installed, it doesn’t take long for it to take a sinister turn. The security system will do everything to make sure that its family is safe and that nothing hurts them, no matter what it takes.

Blumhouse’s New Horror Film Shows AI Turning Evil

John Cho and Katherine Waterston in Afraid | Blumhouse Productions

Produced by Columbia Pictures and Blumhouse Productions, Afraid is all...

Afraid Trailer(Photo Credit –YouTube)

We know how technology can be frightening sometimes, as depicted in the Black Mirror series on Netflix. Numerous other movies and shows have also showcased the dark side of technology. With the rise of AI usage, the potential for fear grows even more intense. This fear is precisely what is captured in the newly released Afraid Trailer. The film stars John Cho, Katherine Waterston, Havara Rose Liu, Lukita Maxwell, David Dastmalchian, and Keith Carradine.

In the Afraid trailer, Curtis brings home a new device called ‘Aia’, a digital assistant designed to help people, especially families, with everything from groceries to looking after the kids. While Aia sounds intriguing and helpful, the trailer hints at the terrifying consequences of an AI that goes to extreme lengths to assist its users.

The trailer shows Curtis and his family experiencing the dark side of Aia’s constant vigilance.

It’s John Cho versus technology again in Afraid. Here’s the trailer for Blumhouse’s latest high-tech horror flick.

John Cho is no stranger to grappling with technology in high-stakes scenarios. Cho was the star of 2018’s Searching, one of the most successful film’s in the screenlife format. That film took place within the confines of a laptop screen, and throughout its runtime we saw Cho play a terrified parent grappling with his missing daughter’s laptop as he raced against time to uncover its hidden secrets and find out where she was. The film spawned a sequel (that Cho was not part of) called Missing, which released last year.

Having taken on the might of a Macbook, Cho is returning to duel with technology once again, this time in Afraid. Blumhouse Productions and Sony Pictures have released the trailer for the film, which sees Cho and his...

Have you ever thought about how you can’t spell ‘afraid’ without AI? Because writer-director Chris Weitz certainly has. His new technophobe triggering thriller Afraid — formerly titled They Listen — sees John Cho and Katherine Waterston star as a married couple whose lives are turned upside down when they sign their family up to trial a (quite literally) killer new home AI assistant. Check out the sinister first trailer for the Blumhouse movie below;

Don't mind us, we're just quietly yeeting every one of our smart devices into the sea after that — yikes! Right from the get-go, there's sketchy vibes surrounding Aia, the smart home assistant Curtis (Cho) and his family receive here. “I’m not crazy about having them everywhere,” says Curtis’ wife (Waterston) as little eyes are mounted around her home. And so she shouldn't be. In this first look at the film, the soft-spoken Aia very quickly cranks...

What if your Amazon Alexa or Siri had evil intentions? Given the accelerated evolution of artificial intelligence, that's not even a radical thought anymore. It's a concept that has been toyed with in countless horror and science fiction films throughout the decades. The latest to tackle destructive AI is the upcoming Blumhouse and Colombia Pictures film Afraid, formerly titled They Listen.

When Curtis (John Cho) and his family are specially selected to test out a new digital assistant named Aia, they're in for a treat—at first. Aia uses cameras and special censors throughout the house to monitor Curtis, his wife, and their children.

Slowly, Aia starts to learn everything about her new family, including their likes, dislikes, and secrets. Aia takes it upon herself to act like "another mom," and she won't let anyone or anything harm her family. One moment in the newly released trailer teases Aia getting...

When done right, AI seems cool and harmless — right? At least that’s what the family in the upcoming thriller “Afraid” believed. Columbia Pictures and Blumhouse released the official trailer on Wednesday — it paints an eerie picture of a future those afraid of artificial intelligence fear may come true.

“In Afraid, Curtis (John Cho) and his family are selected to test a revolutionary new home device: a digital family assistant called Aia. Taking smart home to the next level, once the unit and all its sensors and cameras are installed in their home, Aia seems able to do it all. She learns the family’s behaviors and begins to anticipate their needs. And she can make sure nothing – and no one – gets in her family’s way,” the official synopsis states.

The trailer starts off rather pleasant —keeping viewers unaware of the dark twist to come. The family installs an...

Sony Pictures has released the official trailer and poster for Afraid, the new thriller from Blumhouse that was previously titled “They Listen.”

Written and directed by Chris Weitz, the film centers on Curtis (John Cho) and his family, who are selected to test a revolutionary new home device: a digital family assistant called Aia.

Taking smart home to the next level, once the unit and all its sensors and cameras are installed in their home, Aia seems able to do it all. She learns the family’s behaviors and begins to anticipate their needs.

And she can make sure nothing – and no one – gets in her family’s way.

In addition to John Cho, the film stars Katherine Waterston, Havana Rose Liu, and Lukita Maxwell, with David Dastmalchian and Keith Carradine.

Jason Blum, Chris Weitz, and Andrew Miano produced the film, which the Motion Picture Association has not yet rated.

Ever worry Alexa is going to turn on us all one day? That’s the gist of Afraid, a new science fiction horror film produced by Jason Blum’s Blumhouse Productions.

In Afraid, John Cho and Katherine Waterston play a married couple with a young son (Isaac Bae) and a teenage daughter (Lukita Maxwell) who get an AI-powered digital family assistant called Aia installed into their home. Aia functions a lot like Amazon’s Alexa, but it uses AI to complete more complicated tasks like paying bills and motivating the kids to do their chores. Quickly, however, Aia’s powers and control over the family begin to grow, taking retribution against anyone who threatens the kids and bringing her mysterious “friends” to the house.

The film’s official logline reads, “In Afraid, Curtis (John Cho) and his family are selected to test a revolutionary new home device: a digital family assistant called Aia.

John Cho begins to regret using an AI device to keep his loved ones safe in the first trailer for the thriller feature Afraid.

Sony released the trailer Wednesday for writer-director Chris Weitz’s film that hits theaters Aug. 30 and was formerly known by the title They Listen. Hailing from Columbia Pictures and Blumhouse Productions, Afraid centers on Curtis (Cho), whose household is selected to test a groundbreaking digital family assistant called Aia. However, the family soon realizes that Aia might have become a bit too attached to them.

“I’m not crazy about having them everywhere,” Curtis’ wife (Katherine Waterston) says in the trailer about all the cameras and sensors being set up in their home.

Later, Cho warns, “There is something very wrong with Aia.” He adds, “Get out of the house, now.”

Havana Rose Liu, David Dastmalchian, Lukita Maxwell, Keith Carradine and Riki Lindhome round out the cast of Afraid.