Abigail’s plot potential is $25 – 42MM (actual $26MM)

A group of hardened criminals kidnaps a young girl for ransom. She reveals her powers and soon the hunted becomes the hunter. Abigail’s initial twist sets up a promising plot structure. The plot structure however, is ruined by the subsequent twists and turns. At Mythosis, we extract the plot structure, find the gaps and unlock the story’s hidden potential.

Mythological tales reveal the invisible Plot Structure of The Ministry of Abigail

Stories are an interweaving of quests, each representing a fundamental human desire. These desires echo across time and cultures, finding their universal counterparts in mythological tales.

90% of the events in the story is borrowed from five mythological tales. There are 3 prominent characters whose quests mirror these mythological tales.

Abigail’s quest mirrors the tale of Circe from Greek mythology, where both are driven by the desire to dominate others. Circe uses a façade to lure travellers and transforms them into pigs. Abigail gets herself kidnapped to feed on her kidnappers.

Joey’s quest mirrors the tale of Kans from Hindu mythology, where both are driven by the desire to survive a threat. Kans’ nemesis escapes from prison. Joey tranquilizes Abigail but she escapes from the cage.

Frank’s quest mirrors the tale of Duryodhan from Hindu mythology, where both are driven by the desire to confront offenders. Duryodhan unscrupulously strips his cousins of all their powers & takes over their kingdom. Frank transforms into a vampire and finally manages to overpower Abigail.

Abigail also mirrors events from the tale of Ram from Hindu mythology. Ram seeks the help of allies to defeat Ravan. Abigail seeks Joey’s help to defeat Frank.

Joey also borrows events from the tale of Noah from Abrahamic mythology. Noah is forgiven by God for saving every specie. Joey is forgiven by Lazar for saving Abigail.

Lambert has an underdeveloped quest. No other characters have a quest.

Detailed mirroring of each character to their respective mythological tales is in section “Unlocking the Ideal Plot Structure”

Blockbusters differ from Flops in the way they borrow from mythological tales

Blockbuster stories consistently defy the norms of conventional plot structures. The analysis of Blockbuster, Hit & Flop plot structures across decades and genres has uncovered an optimal method for incorporating mythological tales into storytelling. The Mythosis Code for creating blockbuster plot structures has the following principles -

Every blockbuster plot structure borrows events from at least three mythological tales.
Blockbuster characters are consistent and complex. Each character in the story reflects events from a single mythological tale, and the degree of mirroring is approximately 35%.
Blockbusters create a cohesive plot structure by intricately weaving the multiple tales. Characters are woven with each other through their quests and not merely by relationships. Quests become interconnected when events from two mythological tales occur simultaneously within the story.

Mythosis Code evaluation of Abigail’s Plot structure

Abigail’s plot structure borrows from five mythological tales.

The quests of Abigail & Joey are inconsistent since they mirror events from multiple mythological tales. Only Frank's quest is consistent since he mirrors a single tale.

Every character borrows below the threshold of 35%. Joey borrows 14% of the events from Kans’ quest & 6% events from Noah’s quest. Abigail borrows 22% of the events from Circe’s quest & 3% from Ram’s quest. Frank borrows 21% of the events from Duryodhan’s quest.

Blockbusters have a quest interweaving threshold of 0.50. Frank’s quest is interwoven with that of Abigail. Joey’s quest isn’t interwoven with either Frank or Abigail. Abigail’s quest interweaving score of 0.33 is below par. Here is an example of interweaving the quests of Frank & Abigail:

Estimated potential of Abigail’s Plot Structure

Each one of us is driven by at least one desire, which is why specific mythological tales resonate with us. When a story interweaves more tales, it broadens the story’s appeal to a wider audience. However, to realize the power of multiple quests, the quests must have sufficient depth and they should be interwoven.

Abigail's plot structure suffers from character inconsistency since both Abigail & Joey mirror multiple quests. Moreover, none of the quests have sufficient depth because of which characters lack complexity and are unidimensional. Lastly, the interweaving between quests is below par which results in a disjointed sequence of events.

We have created an algorithm by assigning weights to the principles of The Mythosis Code. The algorithm calculates the potency of a story’s plot structure and estimates its corresponding audience appeal. Blockbuster plot structures have a score of at least 0.64 and appeal to 20% of the audiences.

Abigail’s plot structure has a score of 0.02. Abigail will appeal to 0.68 – 0.84% of the population. Our estimate of the movie’s revenues from its audience appeal is $25 – 42MM in the domestic market.

Unlocking the Ideal Plot Structure of Abigail

We have identified 32 universal quests that represent every human desire. These quests are the superset of thousands of stories across cultures that reflect our collective subconscious. Each quest has a structured sequence of events divided into 5 major arcs.

We map a character’s quest to the relevant mythological tale (universal quest) which reveals the gaps in their quest, if any. The ideal Plot Structure is constructed by plugging these gaps with the missing events from the tale. These events strengthen each character’s journey and weaving of quests without altering the story.

Extraction of each character quest

Quest 1: Abigail mirrors the universal quest for Power

Abigail’s desire for Power stems from the need to dominate others. The tale of Circe from Greek mythology is the universal quest for Power.

Quest 2: Joey mirrors the universal quest for Preservation

Joey’s desire for Preservation stems from the need to survive a threat. The tale of Kans from Hindu mythology is the universal quest for Preservation.

Quest 3: Frank mirrors the universal quest for Vengeance

Frank’s desire for Vengeance stems from the need to confront offenders. The tale of Duryodhan from Hindu mythology is the universal quest for Vengeance.

Quest 4: Abigail also mirrors the universal quest for Order

Abigail’s desire for Order stems from the need to maintain stability. The tale of Ram from Hindu mythology is the universal quest for Order.

Ideal Plot structure reconstruction

The ideal plot structure retains the quests of Circe, Kans & Duryodhan while incorporating the quest of Prometheus for Lambert. The plot structure made with these 4 mythological tales unlocks the blockbuster potential of Abigail by a. solving the inconsistency of Abigail & Joey’s quest b. staying true to the story, i.e. Joey surviving c. increasing Abigail’s revenue by 10x. The major interventions are as follows:

Deepening the quests of Abigail, Joey & Frank: The plot structure borrows missing events from the tales of Circe, Kans & Duryodhan.

Removing the secondary quests of Abigail & Joey: The resultant plot structure is compelling since every character has a consistent quest.

However, since Abigail mirrors Circe she will hunt down Joey & Frank. They can only be saved by a person who is aware of Abigail’s weakness, has the strength to take her on and has a reason to do so. Lambert has been transformed into a vampire against his will and wants to avenge Lazar & Abigail.

Building Lambert’s quest: The universal quest that mirrors Lambert’s desire is of Prometheus from Greek mythology. Prometheus’ desire for idealism stems from the need for fairness & justice. Man didn’t stand a chance against Zeus’ exploitation until Prometheus rebels against Zeus.

Tags: 2024, Character Arcs, Circe, Duryodhan, Guy Busick, Kans, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Mythology, Order, Power, Preservation, Radio Silence Productions, Ram, Screenwriting, Stephen Shields, Story plot, storytelling, Tyler Gillett, Universal Pictures, Vengeance