Tag: abigail

Abigail, The Book of Clarence on Netflix, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, and every new movie to watch at home this weekend

Greetings, Polygon readers! Each week, we round up the most notable new releases to streaming and VOD, highlighting the biggest and best new movies for you to watch at home.

This week, Abigail, the horror comedy from Scream directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, gnaws its way onto VOD. There’s plenty more than that to choose from, as a plethora of exciting releases make their way onto streaming this weekend. Jeymes Samuel’s The Book of Clarence is now streaming on Netflix, the psychological thriller Eileen is available to watch on Hulu, and The Iron Claw is on Max, not to mention all the other new releases available to rent and purchase on VOD.

Here’s everything new that’s available to watch this weekend!

New on Netflix

The Book of Clarence

Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix

Image: Legendary Entertainment/Moris Puccio

Genre: Historical comedy
Run time: 2h 9m
Director: Jeymes Samuel
Cast: LaKeith Stanfield, Omar Sy, RJ Cyler, Anna Diop

Jeymes Samuel (The Harder They Fall) returns with a new film, this time a biblical comedy drama starring LaKeith Stanfield. The Book of Clarence follows the story of a down-on-his-luck man living in A.D. 33 Jerusalem who aspires to free himself from debt.

His plan? Take a page out of the book of a local preacher claiming to be the son of God and proclaim himself as the Messiah, performing “miracles” in a bid for fame and glory. When Clarence’s schemes run afoul of the Romans, he’ll be faced with not only the consequences of his deception, but a choice that will shape his life and the course of history.

Mother of the Bride

Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix

Photo: Sasidis Sasisakulporn/Netflix

Genre: Rom-com
Run time: 1h 28m
Director: Mark Waters
Cast: Brooke Shields, Benjamin Bratt, Miranda Cosgrove

Brooke Shields stars in this new rom-com as Lan, the mother of a woman who is about to marry the man of her dreams. After traveling to Thailand for the wedding, Lana learns that her college ex Will (Benjamin Bratt) is in fact the father of her daughter’s husband-to-be. Can these two figure out how to make it through the wedding without being painfully awkward, and is there still a chance for them to fall in love again?

New on Hulu

Eileen

Where to watch: Available to stream on Hulu

Photo: Jeong Park/Neon

Genre: Psychological thriller
Run time: 1h 38m
Director: William Oldroyd
Cast: Thomasin McKenzie, Anne Hathaway, Shea Whigham

Based on Ottessa Moshfegh’s 2015 novel, this psychological thriller stars Thomasin McKenzie (Last Night in Soho) as a young secretary who becomes infatuated with Rebecca (Anne Hathaway), the charismatic new psychologist at the juvenile detention facility where she works. As their friendship grows, Eileen finds herself exploring new aspects of her personality — to equally sinister and deadly effect.

From our review:

In making Eileen’s character flesh, Thomasin McKenzie walks a dramatic tightrope: effortlessly showing how much effort her character puts into performing for others, while also not tipping her hand about what, if anything, resides in Eileen’s soul. Both Eileen’s script and McKenzie’s choices depict her character as someone who wants to be human, even a certain kind of human, but doesn’t know how, or even to what end. So she settles on voyeurism — the film’s opening scene depicts her sitting in her car on a lovers’ lane, surreptitiously watching a couple of strangers make out in a second car. She flirts with the idea of masturbation, only to abruptly stop and stuff filthy snow down her skirt instead.

New on Max

The Iron Claw

Where to watch: Available to stream on Max

Photo: Brian Roedel/A24

Genre: Biographical sports drama
Run time: 2h 12m
Director: Sean Durkin
Cast: Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White, Harris Dickinson

Zac Efron (Hairspray), Jeremy Allen White (The Bear), and Harris Dickinson (Triangle of Sadness) star in this thrilling dramatization of the lives of the Von Erich brothers, a trio of professional wrestlers whose larger-than-life careers and success during the 1980s were marred by tragedy and struggle.

From our review:

The biopicification of such a horrendous, personal series of tragedies will sound crass to some. But Durkin doesn’t dilute the Von Erich story into direct-to-cable fluff. He’s performing a balancing act, aware that a sad story is only useful if people have the desire (and fortitude) to stay until the credits.

New on AMC Plus

The Taste of Things

Where to watch: Available to stream on AMC Plus

Photo: Carole Bethuel/IFC Films

Genre: Romance drama
Run time: 2h 16m
Director: Tran Anh Hung
Cast: Juliette Binoche, Benoît Magimel, Emmanuel Salinger

This historical romance follows the story of Eugenie (Juliette Binoche) and Dodin (Benoît Magimel), a cook and a gourmand who live in a French country estate in 1889. Though the two are in love, Eugenie refuses to marry Dodin, and wishes to keep their relationship as it is. Desperate to woo her, Dodin takes up cooking in order to prepare a meal that will sweep her off her feet. The film is as terrific as the food looks scrumptious.

New to rent

Abigail

Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu

Image: Universal Pictures

Genre: Horror comedy
Run time: 1h 49m
Directors: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett
Cast: Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Kathryn Newton

The directors behind 2019’s Ready or Not and 2022’s Scream are back with another horror comedy, this time centered around a group of kidnappers who are tasked with abducting the daughter of a wealthy businessman in exchange for ransom money. Unfortunately, the kidnappers have bit off more than they can chew, as this the little girl in question harbors a deadly secret of her own.

From our review:

Once Abigail reveals herself as a deadly supernatural creature, the movie transforms into more of an action slasher, rather than going for scares. In that way, Abigail feels more like Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett’s earlier movie Ready or Not than like any other vampire movie. Both movies are mostly set in heavily locked-down mansions where someone is viciously, comedically hunted down. And both feature a deep love for explosions of blood and guts. After Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett’s brief detour for two messy, chaotic, clumsy entries in the Scream franchise, Abigail proves they’re still excellent at creating tension in the hallways of massive houses, and flipping their horror into action at a moment’s notice.

Founders Day

Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu

Photo: David Apuzzo/Mainframe Pictures

Genre: Slasher horror
Run time: 1h 46m
Director: Erik Bloomquist
Cast: Naomi Grace, Devin Druid, William Russ

If you enjoyed Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving and are looking for more holiday-themed slashers, director-screenwriter duo Erik and Carson Bloomquist are here to oblige. Set in a small town on the eve of a major mayoral election, Founders Day follows a group of teens who are stalked by a vicious masked killer. It’s supposed to be a political satire, but even if you’re not in for that element, it sure to be a gorey good time.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu

Image: Sony Pictures

Genre: Supernatural comedy
Run time: 1h 56m
Director: Gil Kenan
Cast: Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard

The Ghostbusters have returned with an all-new movie, and this time Bill Murray is here! Three years after the events of Ghostbusters: Afterlife, the Spengler family must join forces with the veteran Ghostbusters to stop a wrathful demonic entity from freezing all of New York City. Oh, and Slimer is here too, because of course.

From our review:

The Ghostbusters franchise doesn’t really seem to be aimed at anyone anymore. It isn’t funny. It isn’t scary. It’s mostly abandoned its new younger characters, and its older actors barely seem to care. Frozen Empire’s unintentional answer to the question seems to be that Ghostbusters is now corporate nostalgia-farming given cinematic form. Sure, it’s missing all the charm and goofiness that earned the original Ghostbusters so many fans — but if you stick around long enough, they filmmakers will show off the proton packs again, and there’s always a new person to slime. It’s a franchise reduced to nothing more than a parade of hollow, familiar images, lightly repackaged in hopes that we’ll buy another ticket and try to revisit the emotions we felt when we encountered this world for the first time.

La Chimera

Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu

Image: Neon

Genre: Period comedy-drama
Run time: 2h 13m
Director: Alice Rohrwacher
Cast: Josh O’Connor, Carol Duarte, Vincenzo Nemolato

The latest from masterful Italian filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher (Happy as Lazzaro, Le Pupille) stars one of the Challengers boys as a British archaeologist in a story of stolen historical artifacts. La Chimera was a Palme d’Or nominee at Cannes 2023.

Kim’s Video

Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu

Genre: Documentary
Run time: 1h 25m
Directors: David Redmon, Ashley Sabin
Cast: Isabel Gillies Robert Greene, Eric Hynes

Fans of unconventional mystery documentaries like 2018’s Shirkers will likely dig this new film chronicling the rise, fall, and legacy of one of New York City’s most infamous video stores. Featuring interviews with notable former employees like Alex Ross Perrry, Ashley Sabin and David Redmon’s documentary is filled with surprises and revelations aplenty.

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu

Image: Black Bear Pictures/Jerry Bruckheimer Films

Genre: Spy action-comedy
Run time: 2h
Director: Guy Ritchie
Cast: Henry Cavill, Eiza González, Alan Ritchson

Guy Ritchie’s been on a hot run as of late, with some of the best work of his career in Wrath of Man and The Covenant. This time, he turns his eye to historical action, with this larger-than-life true story about a British special ops team in World War II. The movie features a big cast and lots of big guns.

Toussaint Egan

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May 10, 2024
Box Office: ‘Civil War’ Drawing Blood in Battle With New Vampire Pic ‘Abigail’ for No. 1

Alex Garland’s dystopian political action film Civil War about an America torn apart appears to be fending off new vampire pic Abigail at the box office.

If estimates hold, Civil War will stay No. 1 in its second weekend with $11 million for a healthy domestic total of more than $44 million for indie studio A24.

Heading into the weekend, Universal’s Abigail was expected to take a bigger bite out of Civil War but is now looking to open in the $10 million range (numbers could shift, of course, depending upon Saturday traffic). That’s still a respectable number for a studio film that cost a modest $28 million to make before marketing.

Abigail is from Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, the directing duo known as Radio Silence who were behind the reboot of the Scream franchise and the horror hit Ready or Not. Their new movie, written by Stephen Shields, follows the horrors that happen when a group of criminals kidnap the 12-year-old, who is the daughter of an underworld figure. The only problem: the young ballerina is a vampire.

Warner Bros. and Legendary’s Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire remains a force to be reckoned with in its fourth weekend and is expected to come in No. 3 with more than $9 million as it clears the $170 million mark domestically.

Guy Ritchie‘s new movie The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare shouldn’t be far behind with an opening in the $8.8 million range. The ensemble film, whose cast includes Henry Cavill, chronicles a covert World War II mission manned by a band of renegades who are tasked with destroying Nazi U-boats (it’s loosely based on real events). The Lionsgate film boasts an A- CinemaScore.

Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s hit family film Kung Fu Panda 4, now in its seventh outing, and Crunchyroll’s new anime offering Spy × Family Code: White are in a close race for No. 4 with an estimated weekend haul in the $4.5 million range.

Some box office pundits believe Spy x Family will prevail and come in higher. The animated Japanese spy-action comedy is based on the shōnen manga series Spy × Family by Tatsuya Endo.

Kung Fu Panda 4‘s domestic total should hover around $180 million domestically through Sunday.

Overall, weekend revenue is sluggish as year-to-date revenue tumbles more than 20 percent behind last year. Summer can’t come soon enough for Hollywood studios.

Pamela McClintock

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April 20, 2024
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: Abigail

Title: Abigail

Describe This Movie In One Fright Night Quote:

JERRY DANDRIDGE: Mr. Vincent. I’ve seen all of your films. And I found them…very amusing.

Brief Plot Synopsis: Kidnapped scamp turns out to be vamp.

Rating Using Random Object Relevant To The Film: 3.5 pissed off swans out of 5.

click to enlarge

Tagline: “Children can be such monsters.”

Better Tagline: “Hold me closer, toothy dancer.”

Not So Brief Plot Synopsis: It sounded like a foolproof plan (or at least foolproof-adjacent): kidnap the 12-year old daughter of some rich dude, sit tight for 24 hours, and collect a cool $50 million. But it all begin to unravel when they discover dad is the mysterious (and vengeful) criminal Christof Lazar, they’re locked in the house with no way out, and young Abigail (Alisha Weir) is somewhat more of a handful than the average tween.

“Critical” Analysis: Abigail was originally going to be part of something bigger. First envisioned as a remake of Dracula’s Daughter, it was to be looped into Universal’s “Dark Universe,” the studio’s attempt at an epic series reviving the classic Universal Monsters that Tom Cruise’s The Mummy effectively put a stake in (heh) back in 2017.

Thank Set that never happened. It’s hard to imagine what a slog a shoehorned-into-franchise-continuity-like-so-many Ant-Man movies Abigail might have been, instead of the frenetic and hilariously sanguinary result delivered by the Scream and Scream VI creative team of directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett, and writer Guy Busick.

Scream may be what helped put the Radio Silence team on the map, but the movie of theirs that is the real spiritual predecessor to Abigail is 2019’s Ready or Not. Both feature a hide and seek plot (only in Abigail’s case, there’s only one “seeker”), pitch black comedy, and a pit full of corpses.

In line to join those corpses are our kidnappers. Named after the Rat Pack so as not to reveal actual identities, they include Frank (Dan Stevens), the leader; Joey (Melissa Barrera), the One With Something To Fight For; Sammy (Kathryn Newton), the rich girl; dimwitted muscle-for-hire Peter (Kevin Durand); taciturn sniper Rickles (William Catlett); and goofy wheelman Dean (the late Angus Cloud).

The crew has been put together by the enigmatic Lambert (Giancarlo Esposito, who’s in this for maybe 10 minutes) for reasons known only to him. He reminds them that anonymity is key to any decent caper, but in a sequence that would make Mr. Pink turn over in his grave, Joey susses out everyone’s real backgrounds.

Barrera and Stevens take the lead with — happily — not one iota of romantic tension. Stevens is an effortless prick, and his Frank ranges between minimal competence and profanity-laced disbelief at their circumstances. While Barrera is somehow the moral core, in spite of her own sketchy background.

Abigail works best when it tweaks the formulaic for maximum entertainment. Ready or Not isn’t the only “inspiration” here, as Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett mine everything from Dusk Till Dawn to The Usual Suspects. The twists aren’t really that twisty and the premise is reminiscent of any number of stories of criminals blindly getting in over their heads.

However, my biggest beef is probably the kidnappers using the code name “Tiny Dancer” for Abigail, which effectively wiped out (almost) all my carefully thought our Elton John-related puns.

In a perfect world, you’d know nothing about Abigail going in. Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett obviously intended for (or hoped) the reveal of the title character’s carnivorous alter ego to be a shock, something impossible in this post-Movie Poop Shoot world of trailer reactions and plot reveals. It does dilute the product somewhat, but not so much to minimize the humor or gallons of ichor.

Seriously, it’s like if Gallagher smashed blood bags on stage instead of watermelons. And was actually funny.

Abigail is in theaters today.

Pete Vonder Haar

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April 19, 2024
Luc Besson Will Take a Stab at Directing Dracula

Image: Francois G. Durand/Getty Images (Getty Images)

There’ve been a lot of versions of Dracula running around in pop culture. Within the past decade, he’s been on a boat, ran a hotel, and been incredibly depressed after his wife was murdered, and we eat it up (almost) every time. Folks love themselves some Drac, and you can count Luc Besson among them, because he’s be cooking up a Dracula movie of his own.

Dracula Attacks In Exclusive Clip From The Voyage of the Demeter

Per Variety, the Valerian director will direct an adaptation of the 1897 Bram Stoker novel. Titled Dracula – A Love Tale, the upcoming film is being billed as a “big-budget reimagining” that functions as an origin story for the Prince of Darkness. Caleb Landry Jones, who’s already worked with Besson on 2023’s DogMan, will play 15th century Prince Vladimir, who becomes a vampire after cursing God for the death of his wife. Centuries later in 19th century London, he discovers a woman who looks just like his lost love and makes her the object of his ~~affection~~ obsession.

At present, Jones is only joined by Christoph Waltz, though it’s unclear what role the No Time to Die actor will have in the story. Deadline further reports other “buzzy” cast members are being talked to for key roles, and the film will lean more into the gothic romance elements of the character.

The next few years are going to big for fans of classic horror icons. Along with Universal’s Abigail in April (a reimagining of the studio’s 1936 film Dracula’s Daughter), Robert Eggers has his own Dracula movie in Nosferatu, which is expected to drop sometime this year. Maggie Gyllenhaal is doing a Bride of Frankenstein movie as Guillermo del Toro handles a separate Frankenstein adaptation, and a Wolf Man movie from Leigh Whannell is currently set to launch in October.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

Justin Carter

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February 17, 2024
Star Trek: Picard’s Showrunner Says There’s Still No Word on a Spinoff Yet

Smile 2 rounds out its cast. M3GAN 2.0 is going to take a lot longer to come out than planned. Simu Liu is teaming up with James Wan for a new sci-fi series. Doctor Who teases a mysterious new alien. Plus, what to expect on the rest of Halo season 2. To me, my spoilers!

Strange New World’s Melissa Navia Talks Flying the Enterprise | io9 Interview

Smile 2

Deadline reports Raúl Castillo (Cassandro) and Miles Gutierrez-Riley (The Wilds) have joined the cast of Smile 2 in currently undisclosed roles.

Relapse

Variety has word Joseph Quinn (Fantastic Four, Stranger Things) will star in Relapse, an “elevated horror film” directed by novelist Bret Easton Ellis. Quinn will play Matt Cullen, a man “who checks into rehab after witnessing a horrific death during a debauched party. Three months later, he is set to get his life back together, staying at his parent’s mansion in the hills of Los Angeles. But things have changed around Matt and everything seems off balance. Fueled by his unstable personality and the invading power of social media, Matt’s paranoia grows, messing up with his rehabilitation program. As he starts using again, a mysterious presence starts growing around Matt, and a monster that has been haunting him since he was a teenager reveals itself. His therapist tries to help, convinced that the monster is actually in Matt’s head.”

The First Omen

According to Bloody-Disgusting, The First Omen has been rated “R” for “violent content, grisly/disturbing images, and brief graphic nudity.”

Abigail

Bloody-Disgusting additionally reports Abigail has also been rated “R” for “strong bloody violence and gore throughout, pervasive language and brief drug use.”

M3GAN 2.0

M3GAN 2.0 has been pushed back four months and will now reach theaters on May 16, 2025.

[Bloody-Disgusting]

Laugh

A demon named Calypso wants the soul of an Afghanistan war veteran-turned-actor in the gory, likely NSFW trailer for Laugh.

Laugh – Teaser Trailer

Untitled Simu Liu Series

TV Line reports Peacock has handed a straight-to-series order to an untiled “sci-fi thriller” starring Simu Liu. Produced by James Wan, the story is said to follow Liu as “an intelligence analyst who realizes his brain has been hacked, giving the perpetrators access to everything he sees and hears. Caught between his shadowy agency and the unknown hackers, he must maintain a performance 24/7 to flush out who’s responsible and prove where his allegiance lies.”

Bewitched

Deadline also has word a reboot of Bewitched from The Boys writer, Judalina Neira, is now in development at Sony Pictures TV.

Star Trek: Legacy

During a recent interview with Trek Movie, Terry Matalas confirmed there have still been no discussions with Paramount about developing his proposed Star Trek series.

There’s not. They have Star Trek that they are making and they only have so much money and streaming space. There’s currently not, but we’re looking forward to whatever the Star Trek universe brings … and never say never.

SurrealEstate/Reginald the Vampire/The Ark

According to TV Line, Syfy has renewed SurrealEstate, Reginald the Vampire and The Ark for new seasons.

Chucky

TV Line additionally reports the second half of Chucky’s third season will premiere Wednesday, April 10, at 10/9c on USA and Syfy.

Doctor Who

The BBC has shared Russell T. Davies’ audition script for the role of Fifteenth Doctor introducing the “Spikes” — a spiky, yet-to-be-seen monster said to be intense thoughts brought to life.

Quantum Leap

Ben leaps into the bodies of a Baltimore firefighter and a 1970’s race car driver in the trailer for next week’s two-part season finale of Quantum Leap.

Quantum Leap 2×12 “As the World Burns” / 2×13 “Against Time” Promo (HD) Season Finale

Halo

Finally, Paramount+ has released a new “this season on…” trailer for the second season of Halo.

Halo Season 2 “This Season On” Trailer (HD)

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

Gordon Jackson and James Whitbrook

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February 15, 2024
‘Abigail’ Trailer: ‘Scream’ Directors Make Original Horror With Late Angus Cloud, Melissa Barrera and a Child Vampire

Universal Pictures has released the trailer for the upcoming horror film “Abigail,” set to release on April 19.

The film is helmed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett — also known as Radio Silence — who directed recent popular horror movies including “Scream” (2022), “Scream VI” (2023) and “Ready or Not” (2019).

“Abigail” follows a group of kidnappers who get in over their heads when their young target, a girl named Abigail, turns out to be a vampire.

The film’s official logline reads, “Children can be such monsters. After a group of would-be criminals kidnap the 12-year-old ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, all they have to do to collect a $50 million ransom is watch the girl overnight. In an isolated mansion, the captors start to dwindle, one by one, and they discover, to their mounting horror, that they’re locked inside with no normal little girl.”

The suspenseful trailer shows the captors trying to figure out the best way to kill the young bloodsucker. “What are we talking? Like an Ann Rice or a ‘True Blood’? You know, ‘Twilight’?” asks Kathryn Newton’s character.

Playing the kidnappers are Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Kevin Durand, Newton, the late Angus Cloud, William Catlett and Giancarlo Esposito. Alisha Weir stars as Abigail. The film marks one of Cloud’s final on screen performances, following his death in July 2023 at the age of 25.

“Abigail” is produced by William Sherak, Paul Neinstein and James Vanderbilt on behalf of Project X Entertainment. Tripp Vinson also produces in addition to Chad Vilella of Radio Silence. Ron Lynch and Macdara Kelleher serve as executive producers.

Watch the trailer below.

Jaden Thompson

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January 11, 2024
Hamas releases first group of hostages under truce agreement with Israel

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas released the first batch of hostages under a ceasefire deal that began Friday, including 13 Israelis who have been held in the Gaza Strip since the militant group staged a raid on Israel nearly seven weeks ago, according to officials and media reports.

Twelve Thai nationals were also released, according to Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin.

Dozens of Palestinian prisoners are expected to be freed by Israel.

The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began Friday, setting the stage for the exchange and allowing sorely needed aid to start flowing into Gaza.

Don’t miss: A secret line of communication and a pivotal U.S. role: How the hostage-release deal evolved — and nearly fell apart — in final days

There were no reports of fighting after the truce began. The deal offered some relief for Gaza’s 2.3 million people, who have endured weeks of Israeli bombardment and dwindling supplies of basic necessities, as well as for families in Israel worried about loved ones taken captive during Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, which triggered the war.

The truce raised hopes of eventually winding down the conflict, which has flattened vast swaths of Gaza, fueled a surge of violence in the occupied West Bank and stirred fears of a wider conflagration across the Middle East. Israel, however, has said it is determined to resume its massive offensive once the ceasefire ends.

Under the deal, Gaza’s ruling Hamas group pledged to free at least 50 of the about 240 hostages it and other militants took in the Oct. 7 raid. In exchange, Hamas said Israel would free 150 Palestinian prisoners.

It was not expected that captive Americans would be among those released late Friday afternoon, but the Biden White House said in a statement that it continued to work to ensure that U.S. nationals, including an Israeli-American girl who turns 4 on Friday, are among the initial 50.

Both sides agreed to release women and children first, in stages starting Friday, and as planned 13 Israelis were released, according to Israeli media, citing security officials. An Israeli official, meanwhile, confirmed that the Thai captives left Gaza and were en route to a hospital in Israel.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to discuss the releases with the media.

Israel said the deal calls for the truce to be extended an extra day for every additional 10 hostages freed.

Early in the day, ambulances were seen arriving at the Hatzerim air base in southern Israel, preparing for the release. Those freed will then be taken to hospitals for assessment and treatment, Israeli officials said.

See: Ambulances positioned at Israeli military base ahead of Hamas hostage release

Among the Israeli citizens freed some have a second nationality, according to a Hamas official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss details with the media.

Israel’s Justice Ministry published a list of 300 Palestinian prisoners eligible for release. Thirty-nine — 24 women, including some convicted of attempted murder for attacks on Israeli forces, and 15 teenagers jailed for offenses like throwing stones — were expected to be freed Friday, Palestinian authorities said.

On Friday, the truce brought quiet after weeks in which Gaza saw heavy bombardment and artillery fire daily as well as street fighting as ground troops advanced through neighborhoods in the north. The last report of air-raid sirens in Israeli towns near the territory came shortly after the truce took effect.

Not long after, four tankers with fuel and four with cooking gas entered the Gaza Strip from Egypt, Israel said.

Israel has agreed to allow the delivery of 130,000 liters, or 34,340 gallons, of fuel per day during the truce — still only a small portion of Gaza’s estimated daily needs of more than 1 million liters.

For most of the past seven weeks of war, Israel had barred the entry of fuel to Gaza, claiming it could be used by Hamas for military purposes — though it has occasionally allowed small amounts in.

U.N. aid agencies pushed back against the claim, saying fuel deliveries were closely supervised and urgently needed to avert a humanitarian catastrophe since fuel is required to run generators that power water-treatment facilities, hospitals and other critical infrastructure.

The Israeli military dropped leaflets over southern Gaza, warning hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians who sought refuge there not to return to their homes in the territory’s north, the focus of Israel’s ground offensive.

Even though Israel warned that it would block such attempts, hundreds of Palestinians could be seen walking north Friday.

Two were shot and killed by Israeli troops and another 11 were wounded. An Associated Press journalist saw the two bodies and the wounded as they arrived at a hospital.

Sofian Abu Amer, who had fled Gaza City, said he decided to risk heading north to check on his home.

“We don’t have enough clothes, food and drinks,” he said. “The situation is disastrous. It’s better for a person to die.”

The hope is that “momentum” from the deal will lead to an “end to this violence,” said Majed al-Ansari, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of Qatar, which served as a mediator along with the United States and Egypt.

But hours before it came into effect, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant was quoted telling troops that their respite would be short and that the war would resume with intensity and continue for at least two more months.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also vowed to continue the war to destroy Hamas’s military capabilities, end its 16-year rule in Gaza and return all the hostages.

Israel’s northern border with Lebanon was also quiet on Friday, a day after the militant Hezbollah group, an ally of Hamas, carried out the highest number of attacks in one day since fighting there began Oct. 8.

Hezbollah is not a party to the ceasefire agreement but was widely expected to halt its attacks.

The war erupted when several thousand Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel, killing at least 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking scores of hostages, including babies, women and older adults, as well as soldiers.

The soldiers will only be released in exchange for all Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, according to the Islamic Jihad militant group, which is reportedly holding about 40 hostages.

It is not clear how many of the hostages are currently serving in the military or whether the militants also consider reserve soldiers to be “military hostages.”

According to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, an advocacy group, Israel is currently holding 7,200 Palestinians on security charges or convictions, including about 2,000 arrested since the start of the war.

The Israeli offensive has killed more than 13,300 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza, which resumed its detailed count of casualties in Gaza after stopping for weeks because of the health system’s collapse in the north.

The ministry says some 6,000 people have been reported missing, feared buried under rubble.

The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and militants in its death tolls. Women and minors have consistently made up around two-thirds of the dead, though the new number was not broken down. The figure does not include updated numbers from hospitals in the north.

Israel says it has killed thousands of Hamas fighters, without presenting evidence for its count.

MarketWatch contributed.

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November 24, 2023