Zach Cregger’s “Weapons” ended up being this summer’s rarest commodity: a major studio horror release that actually delivered. I’ve already called it the best studio film of the season, and judging by the box office and word-of-mouth, audiences seemed to agree.
One of the big takeaways from the R-rated shocker was Amy Madigan’s Aunt Gladys — a performance so strange, magnetic, and lived-in that there’s already chatter about an Oscar campaign being mounted.
As is always the case when a non-IP original breaks out, Hollywood immediately began circling for more. THR recently reported that Warner Bros. was nudging Cregger toward a prequel exploring Gladys’ origins.
Speaking with Fangoria, Cregger himself confirmed the project, and it seems to be a priority for him:
I was ready. I had it kind of in my pocket before the movie came out. It’s real and I’ve been talking to Warner Bros. about it. There’s a story and I’m pretty excited about it. It’s not bullshit.
Cregger revealed that he had written material focused squarely on Gladys but cut it from Weapons for length. That “lost” storyline is now being eyed as the backbone of the prequel.
And yet, the announcement is a little deflating. “Weapons” worked in large part because of its sense of mystery — characters like Aunt Gladys felt textured without being spelled out. A prequel risks robbing the film of that intrigue.
For now, Cregger’s plate is already full. He’s currently in production on Sony’s Resident Evil reboot — a gig reportedly paying him $20M — and has both “Henchman” (a DCU entry) and the sci-fi project “Flood” in the pipeline.
Still, with Warner Bros. eager to capitalize, don’t be surprised if Cregger ends up back in their fold sooner rather than later to flesh out Aunt Gladys’ story.
While James L. Brooks teased last year that "we'll soon be seeing" Jack Nicholson, 89, act again, and that he was "reading scripts," that idea has now been shut down by his close friend Michael Douglas, 82.