If it’s been a while since the images of the family-values horror flick Barbarian have forced your brain to try to claw its way out of your skull, congratulations! Here’s another reason to think about them. And to call your mother. She misses you.
But the biggest congratulations go to writer/director Zach Cregger, who has catapulted from that Detroit basement into the stratosphere with a deal from New Line for his upcoming film Weapons. According to The Hollywood Reporter, New Line came out on top in a bidding war that resulted in giving Cregger an 8-figure paycheck, guaranteed greenlight, and final cut (!) of the film as long as it scores a high enough audience test rating. It’s an astonishing deal that feels like an artifact of decades past in a creatives-first Hollywood that’s been dormant as IP has dominated.
As with any great story about a follow-up effort from a hot new director, there are almost no public details about Weapons. THR describes it as “an interrelated, multistory horror epic that tonally is in the vein of Magnolia.” So, at least we know it’s ambitious. Plus, New Line has a long history with horror and has pushed the envelope in recent years, so they might make an excellent home for something of this magnitude. It’s enough to get the neck hairs tingling with hope and anticipation, and it offers a silver lining for directors making weird stuff (and the fans that love it). But no matter what happens next, Cregger has a big check and a sure thing to shoot.
(via The Hollywood Reporter)