After the success of his horror film “Barbarian”, released in France directly on Disney +, Zach Cregger has just sold his next film to New Line for $38 million.
We owe him one of the most amazing horror films of 2022… While Barbarian has been available in France on Disney+ since last October, director Zach Cregger has already found a buyer for his next feature film. . Weapons has just been bought by New Line Cinema (subsidiary of the WarnerMedia group) for the sum of $38 million.
According The Hollywood Reporter, New Line won the rights to Weapons after a bitter battle. The American magazine reveals that major offers to acquire the rights to Cregger’s new film were made “on sight”, before the project was officially available for review. Universal Pictures and Netflix were also in the running.
The deal with New Line gave the young filmmaker $10 million to write and direct, as well as creative control over his work and guaranteed theatrical release.
According to a source from the newspaper, the amount of the advance is lower than that offered by Netflix, but the potential benefit of an assured theatrical release, which could more than offset this amount, was a strong argument.
The assurance of theatrical release is a testament to viewers’ renewed interest in horror films like Nope, Smile and M3GAN, which have recently benefited from a clever marketing campaign, positive reviews and good word of mouth.
Will this horror film with a million admissions in France have a sequel?
While Weapons details have yet to be revealed, THR clarifies that the film has been described as being “a horror epic with multiple and interrelated stories, in the vein of Magnolia [de Paul Thomas Anderson]“.
In a statement, Studio President Richard Brener said: “Zach has proven with Barbarian that he can create a visceral theatrical experience for audiences and has mastered all the tools of the perfect filmmaker. We couldn’t be happier and hope this movie will be the first in a long series.“
If Weapons is a success, Warner and New Line therefore hope to make Zach Cregger a regular collaborator in the image of the relationship that Universal Pictures maintains with Jordan Peele and Jason Blum.
Disney+ Barbaric
Zach Cregger’s second feature film (after the 2009 comedy Miss Marsen), Barbarian grossed $40 million at the US box office. The horror film was released on the Disney+ streaming platform in much of the world. A critical success that propelled the director to the top of the list of the most promising horror film directors.
Carried by Georgina Campbell, Bill Skarsgård and Justin Long, Barbarian follows Tess, a young woman who has come to Detroit for a job interview. She rents an “Airbnb” for the duration of her stay.
But when she arrives late at night, she discovers that the house is already occupied and that a strange man named Keith is already staying there… Despite the embarrassment, she resignedly decides to spend the night there, the hotels of the surroundings being complete. But awakened in her sleep by mysterious sounds, Tess will embark despite herself on a series of terrifying discoveries…