If you have nightmares after watching the official trailer for Weapons, blame Zach Cregger. The writer-director behind Barbarian returns with a new thrilling horror about a case of missing children in the town of Maybrook.
“This is a true story that happened in my town,” a young child ominously states in the trailer. “Every other class had all their kids, but Mrs. Gandy’s room was totally empty.”
One night, all but one kid in Mrs. Gandy’s class woke up at 2:17 a.m., walked downstairs, left their houses, and vanished. The children never returned. The parents of the missing children are begging for answers. What could have happened? Is there something sinister at play?
The trailer cuts to a shot of the children face down at their desks in a dark classroom. One of the children sadistically looks up from his seat before Julia Garner, who plays the teacher, Mrs. Gandy, wakes up in her bed screaming.
Besides Garner, the Weapons cast includes Josh Brolin, Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams, Cary Christopher, Benedict Wong, and Amy Madigan.
Cregger writes and directs Weapons, a horror epic he compared to Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia. Cregger produces alongside Roy Lee, Miri Yoon, J.D. Lifshitz, and Raphael Margules.
After the success of 2022’s Barbarian, many studios lined up to win the rights to Weapons. After a heated bidding war, Warner Bros.’ New Line Cinema won the auction for approximately $38 million. $10 million went to Cregger for writing, directing, and producing the project.
Universal was one of the finalists for Weapons alongside New Line. Jordan Peele and his Monkeypaw Productions would have produced Weapons. There are many rumors as to why Universal did not match the bid put forward by New Line Cinema. What’s true is that Peele parted ways with his managers Joel Zadak and Peter Principato after losing the auction. Ironically, Principato is Cregger’s manager.
Peele is not the only one who believes in Weapons. Warner Bros. is so confident that Weapons will be a hit that it moved the thriller from 2026 to the summer of 2025. Weapons will now open in theaters on August 8, 2025.
