Zach Cregger, the visionary filmmaker behind the breakout horror hit Barbarian, is back with his next nightmare-inducing project: Weapons, a mystery-horror film already generating massive buzz across Hollywood.
The project first made headlines thanks to a ferocious bidding war over Cregger’s highly sought-after script, widely hailed as one of the best horror spec scripts of the last 20 years.
The screenplay sparked a fierce competition among major players, including Netflix, TriStar Pictures, Universal/Monkeypaw Productions, and New Line Cinema. In the end, New Line came out on top, securing the distribution rights in a $38 million deal.
Reports claim that Jordan Peele, head of Monkeypaw Productions, was so frustrated by losing the bid that he fired his longtime managers, Joel Zadak and Peter Principato.
Now, with expectations sky-high, Weapons is shaping up to be one of the most anticipated horror releases of the year. And thanks to IMAX, fans are getting their first taste of the terror with a tense, atmospheric new, clip, offering a chilling preview of what's to come when the film hits theaters this August.
Speaking to Empire earlier this month, Cregger stated, "[It's] a fun movie. It's funny, it's scary, it's inviting. It's not a grim, morose slog. And yet the story it tells is really [frick]ed up. … [It's] creatively ambitious, [and] a lot bigger and weirder than Barbarian...Barbarian was an exploration of social themes; [it] was me looking at the world around me. This is more an exploration of my own personal shit, for lack of a better word. Weapons is me looking within, and working on myself."
Weapons (2025) Synopsis: From New Line Cinema and Zach Cregger, the wholly original mind behind Barbarian, comes a new horror/thriller: Weapons.
When all but one child from the same class mysteriously vanish on the same night at exactly the same time, a community is left questioning who or what is behind their disappearance.
The film stars Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams, Cary Christopher, with Benedict Wong, and Amy Madigan.
Cregger directs from his own screenplay, and also produces alongside Roy Lee, Miri Yoon, J.D. Lifshitz and Raphael Margules, with Michelle Morrissey and Josh Brolin executive producing. The filmmaker’s creative team behind the camera includes director of photography Larkin Seiple, production designer Tom Hammock, editor Joe Murphy and costume designer Trish Sommerville. The music is by Ryan Holladay, Hays Holladay and Zach Cregger.
New Line Cinema Presents a Subconscious/Vertigo Entertainment/Boulderlight Pictures Production, a Zach Cregger Film, Weapons. It will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, and released in theaters and IMAX nationwide on August 8, 2025, and internationally beginning in August 2025.