The horror genre staged a triumphant comeback following the pandemic, led by the 2021 release of A Quiet Place: Part II, which garnered a staggering US$297.4M worldwide (with over US$2.5M from UAE alone). Beyond renewing confidence in the cinematic medium, this extraordinary achievement prompted film studios to reevaluate their horror movie release strategies.
This momentum carried into 2022, as notable titles like Scream V, Smile, and Nope achieved remarkable success, captivating audiences on both the global and regional box office fronts.
2023, marked by the successful release of a series of horror films such as M3gan, Evil Dead Rise, and The Boogeyman. Alongside these, new releases such as Insidious: The Red Door, Cobweb, and Talk to Me are delighting in prosperous theatrical runs in.
However, the tale doesn’t conclude here! The horror landscape of 2023 is by no means finished, as the most exciting moments are still ahead, especially with Halloween looming on the horizon. From the highly awaited reboot of the classic psychological horror masterpiece, The Exorcist: Believer, to the spine-chilling tenth installment of the renowned SAW franchise, here’s a look at the horror movies set to grace the remainder of 2023:
The Nun 2 – 07 September 2023
A Haunting In Venice – 14 September 2023
SAW X – 05 October 2023
The Exorcist: Believer – 13 October 2023
Five Nights at Freddy’s – 26 October 2023
Thanksgiving – Expected 17 November 2023
The movie follows a serial killer in Massachusetts who attempts to make a carving board out of unsuspecting victims. The film continues the Grindhouse universe, and just like Machete and Hobo with a Shotgun, it is based on one of the fake trailers in the Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino collaboration from 2007.
Salem’s Lot—TBA 2023
Based on Stephen King’s novel, the movie follows a writer who goes to a small town, only to find out that it’s being overrun by vampires. The movie stars Pilou Asbæk in the role of Richard Straker, Lewis Pullman as Ben Mears, Spencer Treat Clark as Mike Ryerson, and Nicholas Crovetti as Danny Glick.
Dark Harvest—TBA 2023
Based on Norman Partridge’s eponymous novel, Dark Harvest concerns a specter named Sawtooth Jack who goes up against violent gangs of boys hoping to take down the supernatural creature once and for all. The horror movie boasts a stellar cast, with the likes of Elizabeth Reaser, Jeremy Davies, Luke Kirby, and Ezra Buzzington.
With these exceptional upcoming titles, audiences can look forward to more thrilling and chilling experiences as the genre continues to evolve and captivate viewers worldwide.
Source: Screen Rant, Collider, VOX Cinemas
‘Spooktober’ has finally arrived, and there’s no better way to celebrate Halloween than to watch a spine-tingling horror movie on the biggest screen of them all!.
With a number of new horror releases in cinema this Halloween – from Jordan Peele’s genre bending thriller, the final conclusion to the Halloween franchise, and a good old-fashioned exorcism, both audiences and advertisers are in for a treat.. no tricks!
Check out the movie line-up, and have yourself a bloodcurdling and wicked time at the cinema:
Orphan: First Kill
Release Date: now playing
Cast: Isabelle Fuhrman, Julia Stiles, Rossif Sutherland
Nope
Release Date: now playing
Cast: Daniel Kaluuya, Steven Yeun, Keke Palmer
The residents of a lonely gulch in inland California bear witness to an uncanny and chilling discovery.
The Invitation
Release Date: now playing
Cast: Nathalie Emmanuel, Thomas Doherty, Stephanie Corneliussen, Sean Pertwee
A young woman is courted and swept off her feet, only to realize a gothic conspiracy is afoot.
Jeepers Creepers: Reborn
Release Date: now playing
Cast: Sydney Craven, Imran Adams, Jarreau Benjamin
Forced to travel with her boyfriend, Laine begins to experience premonitions associated with the urban myth of The Creeper. She believes that something supernatural has been summoned – and that she is at the center of it all.
Don’t Worry Darling
Release Date: now playing
Cast: Harry Styles, Florence Pugh, Chris Pine, Gemma Chan
A 1950s housewife living with her husband in a utopian experimental community begins to worry that his glamorous company could be hiding disturbing secrets.
Smile
Release Date: now playing
Cast: Sosie Bacon, Kyle Gallner, Robin Weigert, Jessie T. Usher
After witnessing a bizarre, traumatic incident involving a patient, Dr. Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon) starts experiencing frightening occurrences that she can’t explain. As an overwhelming terror begins taking over her life, Rose must confront her troubling past in order to survive and escape her horrifying new reality.
Halloween Ends
Release Date: 13 October 2022
Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Andi Matichak, Kyle Richards, Will Patton
Halloween Ends kicks off four years after the events of Halloween Kills, where Laurie is living with her granddaughter Allyson and is finishing writing her memoir. When a young man is accused of killing a boy he was babysitting, it ignites a cascade of violence and terror that will force Laurie to finally confront the evil she can’t control, once and for all.
Prey for the Devil
Release Date: 27 October 2022
Cast: Virginia Madsen, Jacqueline Byers, Nicholas Ralph
A nun prepares to perform an exorcism and comes face to face with a demonic force with mysterious ties to her past.
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Source: IMDB and YouTube
CinemaCon 2022 took place between 25 – 28 April 2022 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
CinemaCon, the annual convention organized by the National Association of Theatre Owners, is back after a cancelled 2020 edition and a muted 2021 affair.
Only eight months ago, the movie theater industry congregated at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. The previous edition took place at a time when the cinema industry was in constant flux, with fewer overseas delegates, pre-recorded studio presentations, and a low turnout on the trade show floor.
The industry has made great strides since CinemaCon 2021, after a string of box office successes – Spider-Man: No Way Home, The Batman, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and a far more stabilized movie release calendar, which have given cinema owners the foundation to pursue a serious recovery. The worst looks to be behind movie owners around the world, with theatrically exclusive films returning to big screen and recent box office figures suggesting that viewers are returning to the medium.
Here’s a look at the biggest studio announcements from the largest annual gathering of the motion picture industry:
Sony Pictures:
Sony opened the studio presentations at CinemaCon 2022 with a victory lap. Tom Rothman, chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment, who energized the studio’s 2021 showcase to exhibitors by expressing a strong commitment to theatrical exclusivity.
Sony Pictures Entertainment has earned a whopping $3.3 billion in global box office since their last appearance in CinemaCon, only eight months back.
The studio’s 2022 presentation began with an extended look at the upcoming comedy-action caper Bullet Train (July 29) and continued its presentation further with the new looks of Where the Crawdads Sing (July 15) and The Woman King (September 16), original titles the studio believes will help balance the tentpole-heavy release schedule of the coming months.
Warner Bros.:
Warner Bros. started the presentation at CinemaCon 2022 by unveiling an early first look at footage from The Flash.
The major announcement of the evening was confirmation from studio chairman Toby Emmerich that director Matt Reeves and star Robert Pattinson would be coming back for another installment of The Batman.
Fans also caught the first glimpse of Margot Robbie in the starring role for Barbie, now scheduled for a July 21, 2023 release.
Director Baz Luhrman gave an enthusiastic introduction to footage from his upcoming Elvis, scheduled for a June 24 release, the film will confront the challenge of re-engaging older moviegoers.
Other non-franchise Warner Bros. titles featured in the presentation include the Timothy Chalamet musical Wonka (Christmas 2023), Olivia Wilde’s Don’t Worry, Darling starring Florence Pugh (September 23), and the Stephen King adaptation Salem’s Lot (September 9).
Warner Bros.’ focus on original titles didn’t overshadow the other DC Comics properties on its schedule. Their CinemaCon presentation included advance looks at Shazam! Fury of the Gods (December 16), Aquaman: The Lost Kingdom (March 17, 2023), DC League of Super-Pets (July 29), and Black Adam (October 21).
Disney:
Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige opened the ceremony introducing a 20-minute clip of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Marvel titles have been a financial lifeline for the industry since cinemas reopened with titles like Black Widow, Shan-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, The Eternals, and Spider-Man: No Way Home.
The CinemaCon 2022 audience also enjoyed a 30-minute look at Lightyear, the first Pixar title to hit theaters since Onward.
Disney turned the rest of the presentation over to its 20th Century Studios division, where audiences got a first look at footage of David O. Russell’s Amsterdam (November 4). The title promises to be a star-studded big screen experience driven by leads Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, and John David Washington.
Six minutes of The Bob’s Burgers Movie (May 27) also screened for the audience, emerging as a promising counter-programming option set to open alongside Top Gun: Maverick over Memorial Day weekend.
Producer Jon Landau came on stage to share Disney’s biggest announcement of the morning. Avatar 2, now titled Avatar: The Way of Water, will stick to its December 16 release date.
Universal Studios:
Universal Studios’ presentation represented with footage from Jordan Peele’s Nope (July 22), David Gordon Green’s Halloween Ends (October 14), and the Blumhouse evil robot thriller M3gan (January 13, 2023).
Highlights from the showcase also included enthusiastic responses from exhibitors for comedies Easter Sunday (August 5), Minions: The Rise of Gru (July 1), and Bros (September 30). Universal’s presentation closed with legacy cast members of Jurassic World: Dominion introducing a trailer for the film ahead of its June 10 release.
Focus Features:
Focus Features president Lisa Bunnell introduced footage from several upcoming titles. Focus will bring a diverse slate to theaters in 2022 that includes movies like Downton Abbey: A New Era (May 18) and Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (July 15), genre plays like action-comedy flick Violent Night (December 2), and dramas like James Gray’s Armageddon Time.
Neon:
Neon showcased footage from a trio of its own titles to complement the week’s tentpole-driven presentations. David Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future (June 3) is sure to make audiences squirm as the legendary director returns to his roots in body horror.
Lionsgate:
Lionsgate showcased upcoming comedy About My Father. The Studio also revealed never before seen footage of a slate that balances original films like coming-of-age comedy Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret and horror flick The Devil’s Light with established action franchises like John Wick Chapter 4 and The Expendables 4.
The studio is also building spin-off series based on successful films. The drama White Bird will act as a sort of spiritual prequel to Lionsgate’s 2017 hit Wonder, while Ballerina will give star Anna de Armas her own series in the John Wick universe.
The CinemaCon 2022 audience caught their first glimpse of the video game adaptation Borderlands and a new Dirty Dancing movie heralding the return of original star Jeniffer Grey.
The big news from the Lionsgate showcase came in the final moments of the presentation with the announcement of a new Hunger Games prequel dated for November 17, 2023. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes could provide a return to major global grosses for Lionsgate, which has played a larger role with mid-range titles since the Hunger Games series concluded in 2015.
Paramount Pictures:
Paramount Pictures kept most of the focus of its CinemaCon 2022 presentation on Top Gun: Maverick, which got its first public screening at the Las Vegas gathering Thursday.
The studio still had a few other big announcements to make. Among them were two title announcements for Paramount’s biggest franchises: Mission: Impossible and A Quiet Place. The seventh M:I film will be titled Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning: Part One while the upcoming “Quiet Place” spinoff from director Michael Sarnoski will be called A Quiet Place: Day One. Both films are set for release in 2023.
Source: Boxoffice Pro
The Super Bowl is a high-stakes game, and the ads and trailers aired during the event, in addition to the half-time performance, is as exciting as the game itself. With millions tuning in every year, the Super Bowl has become a prime advertising opportunity for big- companies, and studios hoping to whip up excitement for their upcoming blockbuster releases.
From the trailers of Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness and Jurassic World Dominion, to ads from brands such as BMW and Booking.com, here’s what wowed the viewers and fans at Super Bowl LVI:
Ambulance
In this breakneck thriller from director-producer Michael Bay, decorated veteran Will Sharp desperate for money to cover his wife’s medical bills, asks for help from the one person he knows he shouldn’t—his adoptive brother Danny – a charismatic career criminal, Danny instead offers him a score: the biggest bank heist in Los Angeles history.
Release Date: 07 April 2022
Starring: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jake Gyllenhaal, Eiza González
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
When Dr. Robotnik comes back, this time with a new partner, Knuckles, in search for an emerald that has the power to both build and destroy civilizations. Sonic teams up with his own sidekick, Tails, and together they embark on a journey to find the emerald before it falls into the wrong hands.
Release Date: 07 April 2022
Starring: Ben Schwart, Idris Elba, Jim Carrey
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Since he tampered with a forbidden spell (No Way Home) that opened the door to the multiverse, Dr.Strange has been unhinging the reality –which leads to an important question from Wanda. Why is he considered a hero when he does it, but she a villain? Get ready to experience ‘a new dimension of Strange’. Probably the much awaited trailer of the Super Bowl.
Release Date: 05 May 2022
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Rachel McAdams
Jurassic World Dominion
Even though the plot in this third installment from the franchise is kept under wraps, one thing is sure: Jurassic Park/World fans will be thrilled to see Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, and the original Jurassic Park trio all together in one movie!
Release Date: 10 June 2022
Starring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Laura Dern
Nope
Oscar winner Jordan Peele disrupted and redefined modern horror with Get Out (2017) and then Us (2019). Now, he reimagines the summer movie with a new pop nightmare: the expansive horror epic, Nope.
Release Date: 21 July 2022
Starring: Keke Palmer, Barbie Ferreira, Daniel Kaluuya
See the full line-up of blockbusters releasing in 2022 in our Sizzle Reel.
Porsche/Top Gun: Maverick
Porsche is bringing the speed in Top Gun: Maverick. Playing on the original movie’s “I feel the need for speed” quote, the trailer showcases snippets of the movie in-between promotional footage of some of Porsche’s cars.
BMW
Zeus (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is underwhelmed by all earthly electric things and becomes a shell of his former self. But right when we think all hope is lost, his wife, Hera (Salma Hayek), introduces him to the all-electric BMW iX and helps mighty Zeus reclaim his spark.
Squarespace
Zendaya plays the role of Sally, who is looking to grow her seashell business, so she creates a store on Squarespace, which helps her become a seaside sensation.
Booking.com
In this ‘Big Game’ ad, Idris Elba takes you on a special journey into the heart and soul of Booking.com. In a way that only he could pull off. While staying on-script – mostly.
Lay’s
Seth Rogan and Paul Rudd remember some beautiful moments together that all revolve around Lay’s Potato Chips. Stay tuned until the end.
Verizon
We have officially entered the era of Cable Guy nostalgia. Jim Carrey reprises his role from the movie only to learn that cable is a thing of the past.
Kia
Every dog deserves to find their forever home. Even Robo Dog, who risks it all in Kia’s ‘Big Game’ ad to live fully charged with the all-electric Kia EV6. Kia’s Robo Dog is probably the ad that made the viewers tear up as they feel affectionate towards the #Robodog.
Amazon
What if Alexa could read your mind? That’s the issue plaguing real-world couple Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost in this ad for Amazon’s home-based helper.
Flamin’ Hot Doritos and Cheetos
A group of animals are in the forest beatboxing the song “Push It” by Salt-N-Pepa, with a bunch of Flamin’ Hot chips nearby. What more could you want?
Nissan
The ad introduces Nissan’s brand-new range of 2023 high-tech models – Nissan Z and the all-electric Nissan Ariya. Eugene Levy stars as a high-octane pedal-to-the-metal action star, along with Brie Larson, Dave Bautista, and Danai Gurira.
Chevrolet
Continuing the all-electric vehicle trend of the evening, Chevrolet channeled ‘The Sopranos’ for a commercial starring Jamie-Lynn Sigler set to the show’s iconic theme.
Watch all the Super Bowl 2022 commercials here.
Source: Gamespot
