So far, plot details have been tightly guarded for writer-director Zach Cregger‘s mysterious follow-up to Barbarian, Weapons. That is, until now. New footage was previewed tonight at CinemaCon, reported by Variety, revealing new story clues.
New Line Cinema will release Weapons in theaters August 8, 2025.
Interestingly, the only information we’ve had for Weapons was the description that Cregger’s latest is “a multi and inter-related story horror epic that tonally is in the vein of Magnolia, the 1999 actor-crammed showcase from filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson.” An unexpected reference for a horror movie.
Variety described the reel shown to the CinemaCon crowd, indicating something in the vein of Children of the Corn, with Wolf Man‘s Julia Garner starring as an elementary school teacher who arrives to work one morning only to find her entire class of kids went missing the night before.
“Because the night before, at 2:17 a.m., every kid woke up, got out of bed, walked downstairs and into the dark and they never came back,” a child’s voiceover says in the footage shown.
New Line Cinema chief Richard Brener described the film as “intriguing and unpredictable, with a nice helping of batshit insane. We think you’ll appreciate the ride.” Cregger himself said the project is “a movie that unravels and reinvents itself as it goes.” That sounds like it’ll follow the narrative left turns of his debut feature.
The cast for the horror film also includes Josh Brolin (Dune 2), Alden Ehrenreich (Cocaine Bear), Benedict Wong (3 Body Problem), Amy Madigan (Antlers), Austin Abrams (Euphoria), and Cary Christopher (Days of Our Lives).
Weapons has been rated “R” for: “Strong bloody violence and grisly images, language throughout, some sexual content and drug use.”
All of this sounds exciting. It’s also worth noting that Weapons was initially dated for January 2026 release, which means that there’s a lot of confidence behind this one. With an August 2025 release date, expect to see and hear a lot more about Cregger’s highly anticipated film soon.