News

Netflix has often been a venue for theatrical flops to find new life, and it's currently providing that service for a 2024 horror film you likely missed. "Afraid" was Blumhouse's third of five horror movies this year, following "Night Swim" and "Imaginary" and preceding "Speak No Evil" and "House of Spoils." There are more duds than hits in that batch, making 2024 a rough year for Blumhouse. "Afraid" (stylized occasionally as "AfrAId") currently holding an abysmal 22% critical score on Rotten Tomatoes. At 55%, the audience score is much better, but still not great.

But hey, sometimes when you're scrolling Netflix late at night, all you want is a ridiculous, silly horror flick to throw on and pass the time with. At the time of this writing, "Afraid" is residing in the number seven spot in Netflix's daily Top 10 movies for the United States (via FlixPatrol). That means it's only currently ranking behind the...

Eighty-nine songs and 146 scores are on the Oscar ballots for Best Original Song and Best Original Score, according to lists obtained by TheWrap.

The list of songs is five fewer than last year, when 94 songs qualified. The scores fell two short of last year’s total of 148.

In the song category, Joshua Oppenheimer’s post-apocalyptic musical “The End” and the singer-songwriter drama “Dandelion” submitted three songs each, the maximum number of submissions allowed under Oscar rules. Films that submitted two songs included “Emilia Perez,” “Aadujeevitham – The Goat Life,” “Albany Road,” “Am I Racist?,” “Captain Avispa,” “The Garfield Movie,” “I Saw the TV Glow,” “Moana 2,” “Left Behind,” “Mufasa: The Lion King,” “Twisters” and “Your Monster.”

All of the songs considered to have the best chance of making the shortlist are eligible, including “El Mal” and “Mi Camino” from “Emilia Perez,” “Winter Coat” from “Blitz,” “Harper and Will Go West” from “Will & Harper,...

Amazon has launched its Cyber Monday sales, including plenty of horror and genre-adjacent 4K Ultra HDs, Blu-rays, DVDs, e-books, and toys.

These discounts aren’t guaranteed to last, so act fast!

Here are the horror highlights of Cyber Monday 2024 from Amazon…

4K Uhd Collections:

Heavy Metal / Heavy Metal 2000 [Steelbook] – $19.99 The Sandman: Season 1 – $19.99 Dune / Dune: Part Two – $29.99 The Dark Knight Trilogy – $29.99 Batman: 4-Film Collection – $39.99 Paramount Scares: Rosemary’s Baby / Pet Sematary / Crawl / Smile / Sweeney Todd – $39.99 Paramount Scares: Friday the 13th Part 2 / Breakdown / World War Z / Orphan: First Kill – $47.39 Jaws 2 / Jaws 3 / Jaws: The Revenge – $44.99 Jurassic World: 6-Movie Collection – $49.99 The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy – $54.99 The Ring Collection – $59.29 Mad Max: 5-Film Collection – $69.99 Universal Classic Monsters: 8-Film Collection – $69.99 Hellraiser: Quartet of Torment – $76.45

4K Uhd Movies:

Escape From L.A. – $8.99 Brawl In Cell Block 99 – $9.96 The Expendables – $9.98 Talk To Me – $9.99 John Wick – $9.99 Ghost in the Shell (1995) – $10.49 Mortal Kombat (2021) – $10.89 King Kong (2005) – $10.98 Godzilla (2014) – $10.99 Kong: Skull Island...

Monday Pm: With schools and colleges off today, that means there’s a cushion at the box office. Venom: The Last Dance over four days is coming in at $18 million over the Friday-Monday span, while Lionsgate and A24 are still fighting over second place with, respectively, The Best Christmas Pageant and Heretic doing $12M+ apiece.

Venom 3 is looking at around $2M+ today after a $15.9M third weekend, off 39%. Christmas Pageant is seeing $1.4M to Heretic‘s $1.3M in industry estimates.

Comscore reports that Christmas Pageant outpegged Heretic by nickels and dimes, $10.75M to $10.69M. The former was fueled by matinees, the latter by evening shows. Both overperformed their Nrg single-digit tracking projections, coming in at where exhibition spotted both titles: in the double-digit millions.

Total weekend for all movies is $71.5M per Comscore, which is off 3.5% from last weekend and 19% off from the same period a year ago. The...

Exclusive: Travon Free and Martin Desmond Roe, the filmmakers behind the Academy Award-winning 2021 live-action short Two Distant Strangers, have found their next awards play in Will I See You Again?, a live-action short co-written and directed by Michael Perez-Lindsey, which they’ve boarded as executive producers.

Others newly aboard the project as EPs include Mickey Meyer, the duo’s partner in entertainment company Unreasnble, and actress DeWanda Wise (She’s Gotta Have It).

Co-written and executive produced by Rhett Lindsey, the short centers on two former college teammates who find themselves summoned to their late friend’s estate hearing after 20 years of estrangement. To claim their inheritance, they must first confront their past relationship while undergoing a polygraph test.

Pic marks one of the first directorial efforts for Perez-Lindsay, who has worked alongside top cinematographers as a digital imaging technician on productions like Roadside’s Hello, My Name Is Doris and...

For horror fans, October is sacred. Commonfolk wear costumes, visit haunted attractions, and celebrate all things festively creepy en masse. Television channels, streaming platforms, and theaters dedicate overwhelming program blocks of Halloween favorites. Horror is en vogue, but with that attention comes the invariable onslaught of taste-maker trades showing their whole-ass behinds. Those who treat horror as unworthy for 11 other calendar months suddenly have opinions about horror's "resurgence," "death," or incoming "fatigue." It's a clockwork tradition that riles internet hordes — with good reason.

This year, two specific articles dominated genre discussions despite their wildly unsubstantiated and data-ignorant claims. The Hollywood Reporter warned that studio executives are worried about "Horror Fatigue," while Vulture opted for the headline "Horror Movies Are Just Trying To Survive." I hate the phrase "Horror Fatigue"; it's a made-up phenomenon that's been disproven year after year. Yet, sites like THR and Vulture approach horror-centric journalism with a goldfish's attention span.

Outlast is one of the most horrific psychological survival gaming franchises of all time. This series by Red Barrels first made its debut in the gaming world in 2013. The series centers on Miles Upshur, a freelance investigative journalist who chooses to look into Mount Massive Asylum, a remote mental health facility tucked away in the mountains of Lake County, Colorado.

Outlast was released on September 4, 2013. | Credit: Red Barrels.

The first game was a huge hit; hence, the series went on to prolong itself with three more titles. However, just like any other gaming franchise, there were huge demands for an on-screen adaptation of this series. Now, the John Wick and Saw famed company might have heard these demands.

Lionsgate Is Gearing Up to Bring Outlast on the Big Screen The Outlast movie is on the cards. | Credit: Red Barrels.

As reported by Bloody Disgusting, Red Barrels, one of the most...

Bloody Disgusting can exclusively report that Lionsgate, the studio behind the hit Saw franchise, and Red Barrels, one of the horror genre’s most influential video game developers, have announced a deal to bring the Outlast horror series to the big screen.

Prolific horror film producer Roy Lee will lead the adaptation. Lee will bring the film the same terrifying authenticity that has made the critically acclaimed psychological horror game franchise a fan favorite for over 37 million players worldwide.

J.T. Petty, who is deeply involved in the story for the games themselves, will be working on the film’s screenplay. Petty previews, “Red Barrels has been pushing the limits of horror in games for more than a decade, and expanding the Outlast Universe into film is an incredible opportunity to dive deeper into the characters and killers we love.”

With Lionsgate’s success and expertise in high-quality cinematic storytelling in...

The excitement around Terrifier 3, written and directed by Damien Leone, and starring David Howard Thornton and Lauren Lavera, has horror fans talking. Reports from early screenings claim the opening scene was so disturbing that viewers walked out and some even became ill. However, many believe this could be a marketing strategy to build hype, especially after recent horror films have failed to meet expectations.

David Howard Thornton as Art The Clown in a still from Terrifier 3 trailer | Credits: YouTube

While the movie promises intense scares, fans are left wondering if it will live up to the claims or be another case of promotion over substance.

Can Terrifier 3 Live Up to Its Hype or Is It Just Another PR Stunt?

Terrifier 3 is stirring up the headlines with its intense opening sequence, resulting in audience walkouts and even an incident of vomiting during the first UK screening of the movie.

Lionsgate has been a perhaps unappreciated player in Hollywood over the last 20 years or so. The so-called mini-major studio isn't nearly as big as the likes of Disney or Warner Bros., for example, but it is out there getting it done. From launching franchises like "Saw" and "John Wick" to jump-starting the YA trend of the 2010s with "The Hunger Games," Lionsgate has quietly been the backbone that's made the industry healthier. Heck, it's even taken home media rights that other studios are happy to abandon, which helps keep the DVD/Blu-ray market alive. Unfortunately, things are not going particularly well for Lionsgate at the box office right now, to put it mildly.

The studio has released more than a dozen films in theaters in 2024 and the hits have been modest at best, whereas the flops have been rough. Recently, the comedic action flick "The Killer's Game," which stars Dave Bautista,...

RankFilm (distributor)Three-day gross (Sep 13-15)Total gross to dateWeek 1. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (Warner Bros) £2.5m £18.2m 3 2. Speak No Evil (Universal) £813,979 £3m 2 3. Lee (Studiocanal) £555,529 £1.8m 2 4. The Substance (Mubi) £519,668 £591,322 1 5. Despicable Me 4 (Universal) £369,840 £46.7m 11

Gbp to Usd conversion rate: 1.32

Warner Bros’ Beetlejuice Beetlejuice continued its reign at the UK and Ireland box office this weekend as it crossed the £18m mark while Mubi body horror The Substance opened in fourth place.

The Beetlejuice sequel dropped 42% in its third week to bring in £2.5m and push its total up to £18.2m. It will likely enter the UK top 10 highest-grossing films of 2024 within the next week.

A remake of the Danish horror movie, Blumhouse and Universal released Speak No Evil in theaters over the weekend, and the news is good on both the critical and box office fronts.

Arriving in theaters with an 83% critical score on Rotten Tomatoes, Speak No Evil debuted with $11.3 million in 3,375 theaters at the domestic box office over the weekend.

Worldwide, the film’s current total is $20,873,595.

The reported production budget for Blumhouse’s Speak No Evil is $15 million, so the film should have no problem turning a profit at the box office in the coming weeks.

For the sake of context, Speak No Evil‘s $11.3 million domestic debut is higher than the opening weekends for several of this year’s horror movies, including Abigail, Imaginary, The First Omen, Blink Twice, The Watchers, Tarot, AfrAId, and Lisa Frankenstein. It opened to nearly the same amount as Blumhouse’s Night Swim ($11.7m), which ended with $54 million.

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...

Rank Film (distributor) Three-day gross (Sep 13-15) Total gross to date Week 1. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (Warner Bros) £4.3m £14.4m 2 2. Speak No Evil (Universal) £1.2m £1.4m 1 3. Lee (Studiocanal) £674,914 £705,643 1 4. Prima Facie (Nt Live) £554,794 £1.5m 1 5. Despicable Me 4 (Universal) £389,930 £46.3m 10

Gbp to Usd conversion rate: 1.32

Warner Bros’ Beetlejuice Beetlejuice crossed £14m in a second weekend atop the UK-Ireland box office chart as Universal’s latest Blumhouse horror Speak No Evil opened in second place.

Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice added £4.3m on its second session, a 41.5% drop on its opening session. It is up to £14.4m from 10 days in cinemas, falling behind two comparative...

The weekend box office numbers have begun rolling in, and it looks like Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice held up much better than anyone (except us) expected in week two. According to Deadline, the popular sequel grossed $51.6 million this weekend, which is the second-best sophomore weekend for a fall movie since It back in 2017. Notably, the film only dipped 54% this weekend, a strong hold for a movie that opened north of $100 million.

With a $188 million domestic total, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice seems certain to end its domestic run with a $250 million-plus final gross. It is another winner for Warner Bros, who are having a good year. Wonka, Dune: Part Two, and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire were all major worldwide hits, with only their underrated Furiosa and Horizon: Chapter 1 box office misfires for them this year. They also have Joker: Folie a Deux coming up in a few weeks, which should be another hit,...

Three new movies were no match for the Ghost With the Most as “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” loomed large over domestic box office charts again.

Tim Burton’s spooky sequel added a stellar $51.6 million in its second weekend of release, bringing its tally to $188 million in North America and $264 million globally. “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” hasn’t resonated as strongly at the international box office, where the Warner Bros. film has earned $76.3 million to date.

In terms of newcomers, “Speak No Evil,” Universal and Blumhouse’s remake of the 2022 Danish horror film, opened in second place with $11.5 million from 3,375 venues. Provocateur comedian Matt Walsh’s satire documentary “Am I Racist?” landed in fourth place with a decent $4.75 million from 1,517 theaters. The film, released by conservative pundit Ben Shapiro’s The Daily Wire, landed the top debut in 2024 for a doc. Meanwhile, Lionsgate’s “The Killer’s Game” with Dave Bautista failed to connect, debuting at No.

There used to be a very big difference when talking about independent horror and mainstream horror. The latter would often be much more tame, with a goal of maximizing the audience, therefore maximizing Box Office. Indie horror would often be darker, going for moments that would stick with you long after the credits roll. But as society has shifted into this different entertainment landscape, there’s more of a desire than ever for something wholly unique. Mostly in the sake of profit. Thinking outside of the box is rewarded as it’s all about grabbing attention. It’s why a film like Longlegs can come out and absolutely light the world on fire. Because filmmakers are being forced to take risks in an attempt to get people to the theaters. Audiences are tired of the same old, same old.

This has never been more evident than with the failures of Blumhouse’s 2024 lineup.

2024 got off to a very rough start at the box office, particularly in regards to mainstream horror releases. In 2022 and 2023, horror proved to be one of the most bankable genres that theaters could depend on in the aftermath of the pandemic. Unfortunately, the likes of "Night Swim," "Imaginary," "Abigail," and others disappointed earlier this year. Things have rebounded and we now have hits such as "A Quiet Place: Day One" and the unexpected $100 million hit that was "Longlegs." One movie stands tall above the rest though, and that movie is "Alien: Romulus." Even more crazy to consider? That movie nearly went straight to Hulu.

On its fourth weekend in theaters, director Fede Alvarez's "Romulus" added another $3.9 million to its ever-growing total domestically. "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" took the lion's share of the attention with a massive $111 million opening, but the latest "Alien" movie is still holding its own. To that end,...

The name Blumhouse has become almost synonymous with horror in the modern era, thanks to the success of franchises such as "The Purge," "Paranormal Activity," and the recent "Halloween" reboot trilogy. That sort of brand recognition is tough to acquire in Hollywood. That said, the studio has had something of an off year, and could use an unqualified hit to get things back on track. It looks like the upcoming "Speak No Evil" remake could be that much-needed hit when it opens next weekend.

Director James Watkins' take on "Speak No Evil" is currently eyeing a debut in the $15 to $20 million range, per Box Office Theory. While the budget has yet to be revealed, Blumhouse rarely goes over $20 million since its business model has always been predicated on spending low to potentially hit it big. It worked with Jordan Peele's "Get Out," it worked with M. Night Shyamalan's...

Similar to how people went on vacation with revenge as Covid simmered down, so did they return to cinemas this summer.

Even though this season’s domestic box office take of $3.6 billion, per Comscore, is roughly a half-billion lighter than last summer’s $4.09 billion, chalk that up largely to a Marvel movie missing from the traditional early May summer kickoff slot due to the hangover from the Hollywood strikes (Deadpool & Wolverine didn’t arrive until late July). Last summer, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 delivered $359 million stateside upon its May 5 launch — enough said.

The town freaked out because we were going through a dry period, fearing that moviegoing was hearing the death gong. But theatrical showed a nonstop resilience once Sony’s Bad Boys: Ride or Die lit the spark in early June with a $56.5M debut, commencing a flood of event films.

Is it us, or is streaming...

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.

Starz has announced the movie and TV titles that will be available on the service in September. The Starz September 2024 schedule includes the premiere of Three Women, a limited series based on the New York Times bestselling book that explores female desire through the compellingly raw and honest stories of three women on a crash course to radically change their lives.

Part Two of the final season of Power Book II: Ghost will also premiere. On the film front, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, Imaginary, Arthur the King, Knock at the Cabin, The Strangers: Chapter 1, Training Day, Ant-Man, and several other notable titles will join the Starz app this month.

Three Women Starz Highlights

Power Book II: Ghost Season 4 Part 2

The second half of the fourth and final season of “Power Book II: Ghost” premieres on Friday, September 6, at midnight Et on the Starz app. On linear, it will air on Starz at 8:00 p.

Sometimes the most enjoyable games are some of the simplest – those with light rules and attractive components, and often a fast playtime. Where Doomlings is concerned, most of these things apply – this is a fast-paced, attractive game that kids love (thanks to its cute artwork) and that almost anyone can play. It’s not an overly serious game or one that requires deep thought – but there are strategies to ponder on as you begin to learn the cards and customise your game using the various expansions (five of which are included in the Deluxe Bundle.)

In short, Doomlings is a game about the end of the world. The titular Doomlings are a race of highly adaptable circular creatures who are struggling to survive – but they can’t. The game begins with a card named “The Birth of Life” and ends after three catastrophes are drawn from an era deck that...

Madison Iseman has been cast as Sarah Plankmore in “The Rainmaker” series at USA Network.

The official logline for the series states, “Fresh out of law school, Rudy Baylor goes head-to-head with courtroom lion Leo Drummond (John Slattery) and his law school girlfriend. Rudy, along with his boss and her disheveled paralegal, uncovers two connected conspiracies surrounding the mysterious death of their client’s son.”

Plankmore is described as a recent law school graduate and Rudy’s girlfriend in a show that was initially picked up at the cabler in June and is based on the iconic John Grisham novel of the same name.

The role of Rudy Baylor has yet to be cast.

Iseman co-starred in “I Know What You Did Last Summer” and “American Horror Stories.” On the film side, she’ll next be seen in “Witchboard.” Her previous credits include the “Jumanji” franchise, “Fear of Rain,” “Knights of the Zodiac,...

“Deadpool & Wolverine” remains a box office force with $824 million globally after two weekends of release.

The comic book sequel, starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman as their antihero alter egos, has already surpassed the entire theatrical runs of 2016’s “Deadpool” ($783 million) and 2018’s “Deadpool 2” ($786 million). “Deadpool & Wolverine” is now the second-highest grossing movie of 2024 behind “Inside Out 2” ($1.555 billion) and the third-biggest R-rated movie in history after “Joker” ($1.07 billion) and “Oppenheimer” ($975 million). It’s expected to cross the $1 billion mark in a matter of days.

After this weekend, Disney became the first studio of 2024 to surpass $3 billion in worldwide ticket sales. And the Magic Kingdom managed to hit that milestone with only four nationwide releases, including “Deadpool & Wolverine,” “Inside Out 2,” “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” ($397 million) and “The First Omen” ($53 million). Disney will attempt to keep the momentum with “Alien: Romulus” (Aug. 16), “Moana 2” (Nov.

It is not an exaggeration to say that Neon's buzzy horror flick "Longlegs" has instantly become one of the biggest box office surprises of the year. It simply cannot be overstated just how shocking it is that this particular movie did what it did in its first weekend in theaters. For a studio that has only ever had five movies make more than $10 million domestically at the box office during the entirety of their theatrical runs, a debut north of $20 million on opening weekend is downright staggering. Yet, that's precisely what happened.

Hailing from director Oz Perkins, "Longlegs" pulled in $22.6 million this past weekend domestically, absolutely obliterating even the most optimistic projections. It even blew past Apple and Sony's much flashier "Fly Me to the Moon," which opened to $10 million against a $100 million budget. To be perfectly clear, even if "Longlegs" had made one third of what it made,...

Netflix’s new animated movie “The Imaginary” has captured everyone’s attention. Produced by Studio Ponoc, it carries on the style of emotional, artistic animation from Studio Ghibli.

Based on a book, it tells the story of Amanda and her imaginary friend Rudger. The film explores themes of friendship, creativity, and growing up – which can be scary! Writer Yoshiaki Nishimura cited “Grave of the Fireflies” as a big influence.

Nishimura believes kids’ movies shouldn’t shy away from darker topics. “If everything is just happy, that’s not real,” he said. So the movie balances fun with deeper ideas, appealing to both children and parents.

“The Imaginary” stands out among other imaginary friend films this year, like “Imaginary” and “Ricky Stanicky.” Critics love its animation, heartfelt storytelling, and balancing kid wonder with mature themes.

Studio Ponoc expertly combines visual art and deep narratives. The studio aims to follow in Ghibli...

Eddie Murphy’s career has had more ups and downs than an elevator, but his resurgence as a straight-to-streaming movie star in the past few years has given him the juice to revisit some of the biggest hits of his past. Three years ago, there was “Coming 2 America” on Prime Video. Now, 30 years after “Beverly Hills Cop III,” he’s back again with “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F,” which is streaming on Netflix.

The fourth movie brings motor-mouthed Motor City cop Axel Foley back to La La Land to rescue his daughter, Jane (Taylour Paige), with his new partner, Beverly Hills detective Bobby Abbott (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who’s also Jane’s ex-boyfriend. Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, Paul Reiser, and Bronson Pinchot all reprise their long-ago roles, with Kevin Bacon joining the lineup as a police captain. “Axel F” isn’t going to win any Oscars, but it does deserve...

M3GAN is getting a cousin, or something.

Blumhouse and Atomic Monster officially merged earlier this year, and we're starting to get more information on their planned collaborative horror projects.

First, they announced a new Lee Cronin's (Evil Dead Rise) horror movie, and now Variety reports that they will release a techno-thriller titled Soulm8te to be set in the M3GAN universe. M3GAN will also get a direct sequel, M3GAN 2.0, which will be released on June 27, 2025.

Said to be in the style of the classic 1990s erotic/domestic thrillers, Soulm8te is about a grieving widower who acquires an android to take the place of his late wife. “In an attempt to create a truly sentient partner, he inadvertently turns a harmless lovebot into a deadly soulmate.” Sounds kind of like Fatal Attraction meets Her.

Katie Dolan (You Are Not My Mother) will direct after rewriting an original draft...

In the world of The Imaginary (Yaneura no Rajâ), every child has a secret friend, an invisible being with whom they create fictional scenarios and share their deepest secrets. For Amanda (voiced in the English-language version by Evie Kiszel ), the protagonist of this sweet but sprawling Studio Ponoc film, that person is a sprightly and protective blond being named Rudger (Louie Rudge-Buchanan). When Amanda comes home from school, they begin their adventures, flying across a grassy expanse populated by an industrious giant and a chatty squirrel or riding a musk ox through a snowy tundra. In the words of Rudger, “Amanda always imagines the most splendid worlds.”

The Imaginary, which premiered in competition at the Annecy Animation Festival, is the second feature-length production from Studio Ponoc, following 2017’s Mary and the Witch’s Flower. It’s directed by Studio Ghibli alum Yoshiyuki Momose (Modest Heroes, Tomorrow’s Leaves) from a script...

Even as the 21st century has seen virtually every longstanding pillar of the Hollywood business model challenged (and in some cases destroyed), the endless profitability of horror movies has remained a comforting truth in an era of uncertainty.

In many ways, the genre’s business fundamentals have rendered it immune to the winds of change that have sent the rest of the industry into a state of turmoil. Horror films can be produced incredibly cheaply, seldom rely on expensive stars, enjoy a loyal built-in fanbase, and thrive on a level of immersion that incentivizes fans to take trips to theaters rather than streaming at home. Those factors have long combined to form something of an economic moat around horror movies, allowing the genre to remain a profitable corner of studio balance sheets in even the most trying years.

From “M3GAN” and “Smile” to “Cocaine Bear” and “Talk to Me,” the...

The Imaginary Image: Netflix Let’s address the big Totoro in the room right up front, shall we? The Imaginary, a new animated feature heading soon to Netflix, is not a Studio Ghibli film, though it looks and sounds an awful lot like one. There’s a good reason for...

With the release of films like John Krasinski’s If, Blumhouse’s Imaginary, and even Ale de Jong’s 1991 comedy Drop Dead Fred, the power of imagination flows strongly throughout Hollywood. While each of the films mentioned above brings something different to the table, Yoshiyuki Momose’s latest animated feature, The Imaginary, hits differently. Studio Ponoc is proud to present The Imaginary trailer today, previewing an upcoming animated film to boggle the senses, stir emotions, and remind you of friends long forgotten.

Studio Ponoc‘s The Imaginary portrays the depths of humanity and creativity through the eyes of young Amanda and her imaginary companion, Rudger, a boy no one can see imagined by Amanda to share her thrilling make-believe adventures. But when Rudger, suddenly alone, arrives at The Town of Imaginaries, where forgotten Imaginaries live and find work, he faces a mysterious threat. Directed by renowned animator Yoshiyuki Momose (Spirited Away...

2024 has been a big year for movies about imaginary friends, between the Blumhouse horror film "Imaginary" and John Krasinski's live-action family film "If." Now, Netflix is getting in on the imagination-based fun with Studio Ponoc's "The Imaginary," which already looks to be one of the best animated films of the year. With breathtaking hand-drawn animation and a groundbreaking technique of animating light and shadow, "The Imaginary" looks stunning and seems to be introducing a whimsical, heartfelt, and emotionally charged story to back up the gorgeous visuals. Here's the official synopsis of the film, which is based on A.F. Harold and illustrator Emily Gravett's beloved and award-winning novel of the same name:

"Studio Ponoc's 'The Imaginary' portrays the depths of humanity and creativity through the eyes of young Amanda and her imaginary companion, Rudger, a boy no one can see imagined by Amanda to share her thrilling make-believe adventures.

Hitting Netflix on July 5, the animated odyssey “The Imaginary” follows a young girl and her invisible best friend, beginning in an attic where grieving Amanda hatches fantasy yarns with her fictive pal Rudger, before spanning out across no shortage of magical lands.

The hand-drawn gem marks the second feature produced by Japan’s Studio Ponoc – an outfit founded and staffed by veterans of Studio Ghibli. Among them are the film’s director Yoshiyuki Momose and producer/screenwriter/Ponoc founder Yoshiaki Nishimura, who spoke with Variety at the Annecy Animation Festival, where “The Imaginary” is screening in competition.

How did your background and professional experience shape your vision for Studio Ponoc?

Originally, I studied live-action filmmaking in the US. But I was drawn by the universal power of animation, seeing how one film could resonate. Regardless of language and nationality, children all around the world could enjoy the same piece of animation,...

It has not been a particularly great year for horror movies theatrically. 2024 has been, to put it mildly, pretty rough at the box office overall, with the summer season suffering one disappointment after another. Smaller movies like "In a Violent Nature" are finding success right now, but Hollywood has yet to have a true horror movie breakout hit this year. However, amidst the rubble there is a pretty impressive success story in the form of "Tarot."

Released by Sony on May 3 right alongside Universal's splashy blockbuster "The Fall Guy" to kick off the summer season, "Tarot" opened to an unassuming $6.5 million, placing number four on the charts that weekend. That's not exactly a blockbuster debut, to put it lightly. But the studio was thrifty with this one, making it for just $8.5 million. More importantly, they were also very thrifty and targeted with the marketing spend, which has allowed the...

Stars: DeWanda Wise, Taegen Burns, Pyper Braun, Betty Buckley, Tom Payne, Veronica Falcon | Written by Jeff Wadlow, Greg Erb, Jason Oremland | Directed by Jeff Wadlow

Produced by BlumHouse and directed by Jeff Wadlow (Fantasy Island), Imaginary is a solidly entertaining Friday night horror flick that does a decent job with its premise. It may not deliver any really big scares (at least not if you’re not frightened of bears or spiders), but it’s consistently creepy and tense and Wadlow pulls off a couple of neat twists.

DeWanda Wise plays Jessica, a children’s book author and illustrator who has recently married musician Max (Tom Payne) and become stepmother to his two daughters, stroppy teenager Taylor (Taegen Burns) and six year-old Alice (Pyper Braun). When the family move into Jessica’s old family home, Alice finds an old teddy bear in the basement and quickly turns him into her imaginary friend,...

The bar wasn’t very high to clear, but Lionsgate’s The Strangers: Chapter 1 did manage to break a box office record here in 2024, achieving the highest opening weekend at the domestic box office out of any horror movie released this year… so far. This despite largely negative reviews, once again proving that the horror genre is as review-proof as it comes.

The Strangers: Chapter 1 debuted with $11.83M at the domestic box office in 2,856 locations, just barely topping Blumhouse’s Night Swim to rip the crown off the top of its head.

Here’s the full lineup of domestic opening weekends for horror this year…

The Strangers: Chapter 1 – $11.8 million Night Swim – $11.7 million Abigail – $10.2 million Imaginary – $9.9 million The First Omen – $8.3 million Tarot – $6.5 million Immaculate – $5.3 million Lisa Frankenstein – $3.6 million

For further context and comparison, 2018’s The Strangers: Prey at Night opened to $10.4 million before making $31 million worldwide, a number Chapter 1 may eventually reach.

The summer movie season is in need of a hero. Can the director of "A Quiet Place" and the star of "Deadpool" come together to be those heroes? That's the question we're faced with the release of Paramount Pictures' "If," a new, original, family-friendly picture that promises a magical blend of CGI and live-action involving lots of imaginary friends. So, can Krasinski pivot from mid-budget horror to big-budget family films while maintaining the same level of success?

"If" is currently eyeing an opening in the $40 million range when it opens on May 17, per The Hollywood Reporter. Early tracking had the movie falling between $38 and $42 million, though some believe it can go as high as $50 million. That would be an unqualified win for an original movie of any kind right now. That is assuming that the film does, indeed, fall in line with those early expectations. For what it's worth, Box...

Theaters are in a slump longer than they should be. The last five weekends averaged about $70 million total, while in 2019, the same five weekends with lower ticket prices averaged $190 million. That means success in VOD revenue is all that more important for studios. Even so, on the two top 10 lists from iTunes (ranking by transactions) and Fandango (by revenue), half the slots are taken by companies other than the usual top five.

Results overall reflect the cutback in releases due to last year’s strikes, some longer windows for bigger-grossing studio releases, and, in most cases, a weaker response to other films that made little theatrical impact. All that made it easy for “Dune: Part Two” (Warner Bros.), by far the year’s biggest hit, to repeat as #1 on both charts for the third week. And that’s with a higher price than usual.

Jerry Seinfeld’s feature directorial debut “Unfrosted,...

With two major sci-fi sequels debuting this week to lead the VOD and Netflix charts, the new films also inspired victory laps for the Part Ones of “Dune” and “Rebel Moon.”

“Dune: Part Two” (Warner Bros.) leads at both iTunes and Fandango, and Netflix’s original “Rebel Moon — Part Two: The Scargiver” is #1 at the streamer. iTunes packaged the 2021 “Dune: Part One” with its sequel as a $34.99 purchase, and it ranks second there. (“Dune: Part Two” alone rents for 48 hours for $24.99.) “Rebel Moon — Part One” returned at #7 on Netflix’s top 10.

Three other recent theatrical releases also transitioned to home viewing, with curiously different pricing and availability strategies. The top grosser is Neon’s “Immaculate” (approaching $16 million), but it rents for the lowest price: $9.99. “Late Night with the Devil” (IFC) is $14.99, but for that price consumers own it. “In the Land of Saints and Sinners” (Goldwyn) with Liam Neeson is a standard $19.99 rental.

Mike Hughes, Harvey Stevens, Alex Vincent, Paula E. Sheppard, Noah Wiseman, and Milly Shapiro Screenshot: YouTube There’s nothing scarier than childhood. Look no further than the movies (or your very own memory palace) for proof. With the upcoming release of Abigail and the recent child-adjacent scares from The First Omen and Imaginary,...

Mike Hughes, Harvey Stevens, Alex Vincent, Paula E. Sheppard, Noah Wiseman, and Milly Shapiro

Screenshot: YouTube

There’s nothing scarier than childhood. Look no further than the movies (or your very own memory palace) for proof. With the upcoming release of Abigail and the recent child-adjacent scares from The First Omen and Imaginary,...

“Kung Fu Panda 4” (Universal) debuted on PVOD to #1 April 9, which it has enjoyed for a week; that will end with “Dune: Part 2” (Warner Bros.), which debuts today after 46 days in release.

Both films still are in the box office Top 10. “Panda” actually rose one position to #4 this weekend, with its 29 percent drop the lowest of any holdover on the list. It still has a shot at a $200 million domestic gross. “Dune 2,” which was #5 this weekend and will get close to $300 million, will likely minimize the impact of parallel home availability given its essential visual presentation.

Based on presales, “Dune 2” is already #6 on iTunes top 10 list (ranked by transactions). Other platforms stick to currently available titles, but it would be surprising if it’s not immediately #1 on both iTunes and Fandango.

“Panda” debuted at #1 on both charts (Fandango lists by revenue earned). Fandango also lists a bundle...

To understand why is the industry so conflicted over how to release movies, check out the contradictory paths of two Amazon films, “The Beekeeper” and “Road House.”

The first, which stars Jason Statham as a righteous avenger, is a $40 million production acquired by Amazon MGM for the US. It grossed $66 million in its domestic theatrical release and went on to become a hit as a $19.99 PVOD. Currently, it’s $5.99 to rent and is #1 at iTunes (which ranks by transactions) as well as Fandango (which tracks by revenue).

That’s nearly unheard of at Fandango, which sometimes see its entire top 10 comprised of $19.99 titles. It is also unusual for a mid-level success like “The Beekeeper” to be so dominant on VOD.

Meantime, “Road House” skipped theaters and leads Reelgood’s list of most-streamed movies for the week ending last Wednesday.

At Netflix, another random theatrical release dominates its most-watched movie chart.

Boring!

After concluding March with a discussion of Velma’s queer erasure in Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (listen) and a revisit to the world of James Whale in The Invisible Man (listen), we’re heading to the ’50s to analyze Anthony Minghella‘s 1999 adaptation of Patricia Highsmith‘s novel The Talented Mr. Ripley.

The 1950s-set film sees Tom Ripley (Matt Damon), a con artist who is sent from New York City to Italy to convince Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law), a rich and spoiled playboy who is vacationing with his girlfriend Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow), to return home. Tom becomes infatuated with Dickie after getting a taste of his extravagant lifestyle, leading to a sinister turn of events.

Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get a new episode every Wednesday. You can subscribe on iTunes/Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeartRadio, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, and RSS.

Episode 276:...

RankFilm (distributor)Three-day gross (Apr 5-7)Total gross to dateWeek 1. Kung Fu Panda 4 (Universal) £2.8m £12.8m 2 2. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (Warner Bros) £2m £9.2m 2 3. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (Sony) £1.4m £12.1m 3 4. Dune: Part Two (Warner Bros) £1.1m £36.8m 6 5. Monkey Man (Universal) £763,004 £809,767 1

Gbp to Usd conversion rate: 1.26

Universal animation Kung Fu Panda 4 knocked Godzilla x Kong: A New Empire off top spot at the UK-Ireland box office this weekend; as Dev Patel’s Monkey Man started in fifth place.

Kung Fu Panda 4 added £2.8m on its second weekend – a 28% drop that brings it to £12.8m. It is already...

What the movie-streaming public wants depends on which top 10 chart you prefer. This week offered little consistency and some outright contradictions.

One thing is clear: Jake Gyllenhaal’s straight-to-streaming “Road House” remake is a massive hit. Amazon Prime reported over 50 million worldwide viewers through its second streaming weekend and gateway app Reelgood reported it as the week’s #1 movie for March 21-27 in the U.S.

“The Accountant,” a 2016 Warner Bros. drama starring Ben Affleck, is currently #1 at Netflix. On Easter weekend “The Passion of the Christ” led VOD at iTunes, while the just-released $19.99 “Imaginary” (Lionsgate) topped Fandango’s revenue-calculated list. (It was #20 at iTunes.) For a second week, Google Play did not update its list.

“Ordinary Angels” (also Lionsgate) is #2 at Fandango, but #14 at iTunes. Since Fandango calculates by revenue, that list favors PVODs — but this week, six of its top 10 rented for $5.99 or less; “The Passion of the Christ,...

With “Dune: Part Two” (Warner Bros.), March came in like a lion. With “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” (also Warner Bros.), March is going out, well, as a lion. Leave the lamb for Easter dinner.

With an estimated $80 million (actual totals may be higher), Legendary Entertainment’s second big franchise sequel this month falls just shy of the $82 million debut for “Dune 2.” Warner Bros. now looks near certain to have three $200 million and over films since December — the only distributor to achieve that since July.

This could be the best weekend of the year so far, with a tentative estimate of $136.4 million. That includes four films over $10 million, the first time that’s happened this year. All told, this boosted the 2024 year to date; we’re now down by only six percent.

With “Godzilla x Kong,” “Dune: Part Two,” “Kung Fu Panda 4” (Universal) and “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” (Sony) all opening over $40 million,...

Easter continues its tradition as a great holiday weekend for a big studio movie release, proven by the sequel “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire,” which far exceeded all expectations. Read on for the weekend box office report.

Almost three years after Warner Bros. released director Adam Wingard‘s “Godzilla vs. Kong” at the height of the pandemic with a simultaneous HBO Max streaming release, the franchise was able to return to traditional theatrical by releasing “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” into 3,861 theaters on Friday. Starring Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry and Kaylee Hottle from the previous movie, joined by Dan Stevens, Wingard’s sequel received mixed-to-negative reviews, but after making $10 million in Thursday previews “Godzilla x Kong” brought in $37 million on Good Friday, which is just slightly less than the $38.4 million opening day for “Godzilla” back in 2014.

Business kept up through the weekend for $80 million estimated from Warner Bros.