‘Weapons' is Still 100% on Rotten Tomatoes — $40M Opening?

Zach Cregger’s “Weapons” is only two days away from release, and the buzz has been relentless. You love to see this. An original story, rated R, with barely any stars in it, and the film’s about to storm the box-office this weekend.

Reviews are still ever so slowly trickling in for “Weapons,” the trades finally weighed in yesterday, and many of us are seeing it tonight. In total, 42 reviews have been accumulated, and the film is still 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. Meanwhile, it’s at 82 on Metacritic, with 15 reviews counted.

My excitement is high for this one, and I’ll further update this post as more reviews start popping up, including my own, likely published tomorrow. However, it does look like Cregger has a major winner here, and if tracking is any indication, this original, R-rated film could get awfully close to a $35-40M opening at the weekend box-office.

In “Weapons,” Julia Garner plays a schoolteacher whose entire class vanishes — not the whole school, just her students. At exactly 2:17 a.m., every student gets out of bed, walks outside, and never comes back. Josh Brolin shows up as a furious father demanding answers, asking the question on everyone’s mind — why her class?

Back in 2023, Cregger’s spec script for “Weapons” sparked a major bidding war. New Line secured the rights, and within 24 hours, offered $38M to cover the budget and talent, with Cregger receiving $10M for his part as writer, director, and producer and final cut privilege.

After the unexpected success of “Barbarian,” Cregger has suddenly become Hollywood’s horror golden boy. “Weapons” is his big swing, and if it connects, which all signs are pointing to, it could fully launch him into the top tier of genre auteurs. He’s already set to shoot his ‘Resident Evil’ reboot in September for Sony.

Cregger has namechecked “Magnolia” as an influence on “Weapons.” The ensemble cast includes the likes of Josh Brolin, Julia Garner,Austin Abrams, Alden Ehrenreich, Benedict Wong and Amy Madigan.