Weapons: Barbarian director’s new horror film launches a viral marketing campaign

Barbarian (watch it HERE) writer/director Zach Cregger has assembled a strong cast for his mysterious horror project called Weapons, including Julia Garner (Ozark), Josh Brolin (No Country for Old Men), Alden Ehrenreich (Solo), Benedict Wong (Doctor Strange), Amy Madigan (Antlers), Austin Abrams (Euphoria), June Diane Raphael (Grace and Frankie), and Cary Christopher (Days of Our Lives)… and we’re going to have the chance to see that cast face the horrors Cregger has conjured up when Weapons reaches theatres on August 8th. Four months out from that date, Warner Bros. / New Line Cinema has quietly launched a viral marketing campaign for the film, setting up the website MaybrookMissing.net. 

Most details about Weapons are shrouded in mystery. It has been said that it’s “an interrelated, multistory horror epic” that’s tonally in the vein of Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia, and The Hollywood Reporter adds that the story revolves around the disappearance of high schoolers in a small town. Those disappearances are the focus of the Maybrook Missing website, which shares the following fictional news report –

17 Local Children Leave Home Simultaneously at 2:17AM: A chilling mystery has gripped the small town of Maybrook after 17 children voluntarily left their homes Wednesday morning. Authorities are baffled by the inexplicable disappearance, which has shaken the community to its core. Upon investigation, front door camera footage showed the children leaving their homes at 2:17am Wednesday morning without any signs of force. Since then, little information has surfaced, and the case continues to baffle investigators. In response, a school gathering was held, where growing unease among parents became clear. As the town struggles to understand what happened, officials continue to urge the public for any leads, while Maybrook is left waiting for answers.

There’s also a link to a faux news article about the events of Barbarian.

Cregger wrote the Weapons screenplay (which Brolin has said had “a really brilliant design”) and is directing the film. He’s also producing it with Roy Lee and Miri Yoon of Vertigo and J.D. Lifshitz and Raphael Margules of BoulderLight Pictures. At one point, Pedro Pascal of The Last of Us was set to star in the film with and Renate Reinsve of The Worst Person in the World. Pascal had to leave the project so he could star in the Marvel Cinematic Universe reboot of Fantastic Four (which Garner also has a role in) instead, and it appears that Reinsve followed him out the door.

New Line Cinema went all-in on a partnership with Cregger and Barbarian’s producers at BoulderLight Pictures. New Line came out the winner in a bidding war over Weapons, paying Cregger a sum in the eight figure range to make this movie. When they won the bidding war over the rights, New Line’s president and CCO Richard Brener released the following statement: “Zach proved with Barbarian that he can create a visceral theatrical experience for audiences and that he commands every tool in the filmmaker toolbelt. We couldn’t be happier that he, Roy [Lee] and Miri [Yoon], and J.D. [Lifshitz]and Rafi [Margules] chose New Line to be the home of his next film, and hope it is the first of many to come.“

Weapons has been rated R for strong bloody violence and grisly images, language throughout, some sexual content and drug use.

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