La Llorona Scares Shazam Away
Curse of La Llorona proves once again the astounding profitability of low-budget horror movies. Filmed for a mere $9 million, it grossed over $26,3 million in its opening weekend, capturing the first place at the box office from Shazam! Warner Bros executives won’t be crying themselves to sleep, however, since the studio produced both of these titles. Curse of La Llorona follows a social worker Anna (Linda Cardellini – Mad Men, Freaks and Geeks) as she tries to protect her children from a vengeful spirit. The film also features Tony Amendola (Stargate SG-1, Continuum, Once Upon a Time) and Patricia Velásquez (The Mummy, The Mummy Returns). Produced by the horror filmmaker James Wan (The Conjuring, Saw), Curse of La Llorona is the feature film début of Michael Chaves, who previously wrote and directed an award-winning short film Maiden. Chaves will also direct the upcoming The Conjuring 3.
As for Shazam!, the Warner Bros’ superhero spectacle dropped to the second place in its third week in cinemas, collecting a bit over $16,4 million. So far, the latest DCEU blockbuster has grossed almost $324 million worldwide. In the third place is the Christian drama Breakthrough, directed by Roxann Dawson (Star Trek: Voyager). Featuring Mike Colter (Marvel’s Luke Cage), Topher Grace (BlacKkKlansman), Josh Lucas (J. Edgar) and Chrissy Metz (This Is Us), Breakthrough earned $11,2 million in its opening weekend. In the fourth place is Captain Marvel with $9,1 million and a current worldwide gross of almost $1,1 billion. The top five list closes with fantasy comedy film Little that grossed $8,3 million. All of this data comes courtesy of the Box Office Mojo.
Nickelodeon Developing Yet Another Star Trek Animated Show
Deadline reports that CBS Television Studios has teamed up with Nickelodeon to develop yet another Star Trek project led by Emmy award-winning writers Dan and Kevin Hageman. The as yet untitled CGI-animated TV show will be aimed at younger viewers. It will tell the story of a group of teenagers who stumble upon a derelict Starfleet spaceship and use it to embark on adventures.
Hageman brothers are best known for their work on animated TV shows Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu and Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia. They also wrote the screenplay for the upcoming children horror movie Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, directed by André Øvredal (Troll Hunter, The Autopsy of Jane Doe) and produced by Guillermo del Toro (Pacific Rim, Crimson Peak) based on the classic illustrated horror stories by Alvin Schwartz.
Throughout the last year or so, CBS has been working full time developing new Star Trek projects. There’s a miniseries following an elderly Jean Luc Picard that will feature a welcome return by Patrick Stewart. In addition, there’s a Star Trek: Discovery spin off called Section 31 focusing on Michelle Yeoh’s character Philippa Georgiou. And then there’s Star Trek: Lower Decks – a more lighthearted animated TV series developed by the Rick and Morty writer Mike McMahan.
Game of Throne’s Jerome Flynn To Appear in Dark Tower Series
In a recent interview with The Mirror, actor Jerome Flynn revealed he’s been cast in Amazon’s upcoming adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower. Flynn is by far best known for his role as the mercenary Bronn on HBO’s Game of Thrones. The cast of the series already includes Sam Strike (The Nightflyers) and Jasper Pääkkönen (BlacKkKlansman, Vikings). Strike will portray the story’s protagonist Roland Deschain while Pääkkönen will play Roland’s nemesis The Man In Black. As for Flynn, not much is known about his role, except that he will play “a cowboy” – a fairly generic description for a show that is western as much as it is fantasy.
In 2017 The Dark Tower was turned into a movie featuring Idris Elba (Pacific Rim) and Matthew McConaughey (True Detective). Despite the movie being a commercial flop, Amazon now aims to produce a TV series that will stick closer to the source material. The show will tell Roland Deschain’s origin story as depicted in The Dark Tower novels The Gunslinger and Wizard and Glass. Glen Mazzara (Walking Dead, The Shield) will serve as the show’s executive producer and show runner.
The Dark Tower is by far the most ambitious work by the bestselling horror writer Stephen King. Inspired by the Arthurian Legend and post-apocalyptic fiction as much as by Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns, The Dark Tower consists of eight novels written over three decades. It tells the story of the last gunslinger searching for his nemesis through time and space while trying to prevent the collapse of the multiverse. The Dark Tower also directly ties into or references King’s other novels and stories.
