Who says lightning can’t strike twice and on the same Hollywood studio lot?
On Thursday, writer-director Zach Cregger‘s Weapons became the second original R-rated pic of the year to achieve the $100 million milestone domestically after Ryan Coogler’s Sinners at a time when the overall genre has come under siege. And it’s a triple win on the horror front for Warner Bros.’ film empire, led by Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy. The. main studio made Sinners, while New Line is home of Weapons and the R-rated Final Destination: Bloodlines franchise reboot, which surprised many in scaring up more than $385 million at the early summer box office. Like Bloodlines, Weapons is no slouch overseas for an early worldwide tally of $170 million or thereabouts.
Weapons achieved the $100 million North American milestone in its 14th day in release, compared to nine days for Sinners, which opened to $48 million in April. Thanks to winning over critics and audiences alike, director Cregger’s buzzy movie came in more than $10 million ahead of expectations when winning the Aug. 8-10 weekend with a $43.5 million domestic opening.
The script for the creepy R-rated pic was the subject of a heated bidding war when the package hit the market. New Line and Warners prevailed over rivals after plunking down $38 million, including a $10 million payday for Cregger to direct, write and produce after he made waves with his debut feature film, 2022’s Barbarian, which he both wrote and directed. Sources say he commanded a $20 million fee for his deal to make Sony’s next Resident Evil movie.
Weapons stars Julia Garner as a teacher who learns that 17 of the 18 children in her classroom simultaneously got out of bed and ran off into the night at the exact same time, 2:17 a.m. Josh Brolin plays a grieving father who is intent on finding his missing child and is suspicious that the young teacher had something to do with it. Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams and Amy Madigan also star in Weapons, which has quite the twist. (Madigan’s performance as the ghoulish and creepy Aunt Gladys is already sparking awards chatter.)
Yet there’s another reason to be on the lookout for the unforgettable character. Multiple sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that Warner Bros. and New Line are already talking with Cregger about making a prequel exploring the origin story of the strange aunt who suddenly arrives in town.
One of Weapons’ conceits is its chapter structure centering on particular characters, and sources say that Cregger actually had a chapter focused on Gladys and some of her backstory. He ultimately pulled that section from the script for length purposes. Now with the movie’s wild success, that lost chapter would be expanded into a full-length story. Sources say no deals have been made, nor is there any timeline.
That’s partly because Cregger is already in prep on his next feature — he wasn’t even in town for the opening of Weapons, as he was in Prague in pre-production on Resident Evil.
Weapons landed an impressive 96 percent critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes and an A- CinemaScore from audiences, an almost unheard of grade for a horror pic. Exceptions include Jordan Peele’s seminal horror pic Get Out, which also earned an A- and made Peele one of the most sought-after directors overnight.
Rival studios add that Warners’ marketing campaign for Weapons was nothing short of brilliant, considering it didn’t want to ruin the surprise and exploit the twist in marketing materials. It also got a coveted two-week berth in coveted Imax auditoriums. All told, Imax and other premium large-format screens turned in a huge 34 percent of the opening weekend gross.
Heading into its opening this spring, Sinners had the advantage of being shepherded by Coogler, one of Hollywood’s most proven directors and the filmmaker behind the Black Panther and Creed franchises. The pic also reunited him with his go-star, Michael B. Jordan.
Sinners has grossed north of $278 domestically to become the first original movie since Disney’s Coco in 2017 to earn north of $200 million in North America. And it has narrowly bested Jaws — not adjusted for inflation — to rank as the top-grossing R-rated horror film ever domestically, although its worldwide tally of $366 million puts it well behind Jaws’ global cume of $477 million.
Weapons was the seventh Warner Bros. release of the year to open in first place, an unrivaled feat, as well as its sixth title in a row to open to more than $40 million domestically, also an unrivaled record. The studio is also getting ready to celebrate DC Studios’ and James Gunn’s Superman crossing the $600 million milestone on Friday, while F1: The Movie, released in partnership with Apple Original Films, should zoom past $600 million over the weekend.
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