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‘The Meg’ Chomps on the Competition; ‘Slender Man’ Thin at Weekend Box Office

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The Meg surprised a lot of experts and journalists this weekend by making more than double its estimated take at the weekend box office, finishing with an estimated $44.5 million dollars.

The monster shark tale not only won the domestic box office this weekend, but it also performed very strongly overseas with an additional $97 million in ticket sales.    The high international number is not as surprising as the domestic victory however, as the film was a joint venture between Warner Brothers, China Media Capital and TVB, so it was a film that was designed to appeal to the overseas market (particularly Asian ticket buyers). read more

‘The Darkest Minds’ Stays in the Shadows at Box Office; ‘The First Purge’ Becomes the Series Most Profitable Entry

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The adaptation of Alexandra Bracken’s popular YA science fiction book series The Darkest Minds had a hard time keeping the lights on at this weekend’s box office, as the potential franchise starter landed with a thud, only managing an estimated $5.8 million and an eighth place debut.

The trailers hyped the connections to Stranger Things‘ Dan Cohen and Shawn Levy (who served as producers for the film), but that couldn’t entice fans into the theater this weekend.  With an reported budget of $34 million dollars before promotional costs, the film’s worldwide total should allow the film to break even or earn a small profit, but it looks like Hollywood still hasn’t learned that YA novel series are not the place to “mine gold” anymore (and the 18% score at Rotten Tomatoes certainly didn’t help). read more

‘Unfriended: Dark Web’ Doesn’t Have Any Friends at the Box Office

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Even two different endings were not enough to make a dent in the summer box office this weekend as Unfriended: Dark Web opened with only $3.5 million.

Unfriended: Dark Web finished in 9th place at this weekend’s box office, far below its predecessor.  The original Unfriended sold almost $16 million dollars worth of tickets in 2015 and opened on over 700 more screens than Dark Web.  The drop in screen count was a surprise, but not unheard of due to the amount of successful blockbusters so far this season that have held on to screens longer than usual. read more

Sony Moves ‘Slender Man’ Release Date Once Again; Will Now Open on August 10

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The trials and tribulations of Sony’s Slender Man have been well-documented by Horror News Network, but just when it looked like the maligned film would disappear from the release schedule entirely, Slender Man has been pushed up two weeks to August 10.

The film will now go head-to-head with another PG-13 horror film debuting on the same date, The Meg.  Screens are at a premium this time of year, so don’t be surprised  if the film gets “limited engagement status” and a minimal screen count. read more

Horror News Network’s Summer 2018 Horror Movie Preview

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In recent years, studios have loaded up their summer release schedules with a wide range of horror films.  This was never more apparent than in 2016 when Lights Out, Don’t Breathe, 10 Cloverfield Lane, Purge: Election Year,  and the Conjuring 2 made large sums of cash (for the most part on austere budgets) and helped to shore up an otherwise lackluster summer for movies.  2017’s list of summer horror films were not as notable, with the two exceptions being the surprise hit  47 Meters Down and the prequel Annabelle Creation. read more

‘The Meg’ Trailer Swims to the Surface

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Just when you thought the megaplex was safe from Jason Statham, the trailer for the prehistoric shark tale The Meg gets released!

The film features the aforementioned star of The Transporter series as a disgraced, yet knowledgeable U.S. Navy deep sea diver, along with Ruby Rose, Rainn Wilson, Cliff Curtis, Bingbing Li, and Jessica McNamee.  The Meg is based on Steve Alten’s Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror (originally released in 1997).

The Meg (which will be released on August 10 and is surprisingly rated PG-13) has not had an easy road to the silver screen and the history of the property since the novel’s release rivals Amityville: The Awakening.   Originally, the film was slated for a 2008 release date and was to be made by New Line Cinema, which acquired the rights from Alten. Some of the diverse names connected to the project ranged from Jan deBont to Guillermo Del Toro, but New Line never made the film and the rights reverted back to Alten.  read more