There Are Scarier Things than Horror Movies in Cinemas Right Now
For a second week in a row, horror-comedy Freaky is at the top of the weekend box office with $1,3 million. Unfortunately, Christopher Landon’s (Happy Death Day) latest film is far from the most terrifying thing in movie theaters right now. Due to the record-breaking number of coronavirus cases in the USA (over 130,000 new cases every day since mid-November), both state governments and movie theater owners have begun closing cinemas again while audiences stay away in fear of COVID-19. In its analysis, Box Office Mojo illustrates the current situation:
“As an example of just how fast things are dropping off, last weekend the top 10 movies in North America pulled in a combined $10.3 million. This week, however, that number was just about half of that total: $5.3 million. To put things in even starker relief, at this time last year, Disney’s Frozen II debuted to $130.3 million at the domestic box office.”
In second place at the last weekend’s box office is once again The War with Grandpa, with $747,000. Considering how reluctant major studios are about releasing new titles in cinemas, it’s hardly surprising this mediocre family comedy stayed among the top five highest-grossing films of the weekend for seven weeks now. Let Him Go, a contemporary western starring Kevin Costner and Diane Lane is in third place with $724,000. Horror movie Come Play came in fourth with $562,000. And in the fifth place is Disney’s re-release of a 1994 comedy Santa Clause with $461,000.
Black Panther 2 to Start Filming in July 2021
According to SlashFilm, Marvel Studios plans to start filming a sequel to its superhero blockbuster Black Panther by July 2021. The chief question on everyone’s mind is how will the production resume without its star Chadwick Boseman. He tragically passed away this August, after four years of battling colon cancer. He was only 43 years old.
It is as yet unclear what does director Ryan Coogler (who also filmed the first Black Panther) plan to do. Writing out Boseman’s character King T’Challa from the story would be underwhelming. Replacing him with a CGI-animated simulacrum would be tasteless. Possibly the best options in these unfortunate circumstances may be to either cast a different actor in the same role – which brings challenges of its own – or to pass on the Black Panther mantle onto another pre-established Wakanda character in the MCU.
Naturally, Marvel Studios could choose not to film the Black Panther sequel at all. This is extremely unlikely, since the first film was a massive success, grossing over one billion dollars worldwide. At the moment, executives postponed the production, but only by four months. The shoot will last up to six months. For comparison, the first Black Panther film was made in four. The studio already cast one of the movie’s villains: Tenoch Huerta (Narcos: Mexico, Sin Nombre, Spectre) has been cast in the role of a major villain. However, so far, there have been no details about the movie’s plot.
Dan Trachtenberg to Direct the Next Predator Movie
AVClub reports that 20th Century Studios (now under Disney management) plan to produce yet another Predator movie. It will be directed by Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Lane), based on a script by Patrick Aison (Kingdom, Jack Ryan).
Trachtenberg himself said he had been working on this project for four years now. According to the article, the film was first announced in December 2019 under the title Skulls. At the time, nobody mentioned Predator in the film’s premise following a Comanche woman who wants to become a warrior during the American Civil War. So, cowboys vs. predators?
And sure, why not? Look, let’s be honest here, John McTiernan’s 1987 Predator was one-of-a-kind; lightning in a bottle. It combined an action movie with a sci-fi horror to great effect, precisely because it was such an unexpected juxtaposition. All of the sequels were more-or-less disappointing, even the 2018 film The Predator that was directed by Shane Black who a) knows how to write a fun movie (Last Action Hero, Last Boy Scout) and b) played a supporting role in the original. But this is one of those movies that don’t really work as franchises since they tell such self-contained stories.
Best-case scenario, we’ll get something like Bone Tomahawk. Worst-case scenario, we get Cowboys vs. Aliens.
