Weapons trailer: Insane $38 million script of this movie caused a massive bidding war; Jordan Peele fired staff for it

Hindustan Times

30-04-2025

Not a prestige drama or an adaptation of a bestseller, a fierce bidding war in Hollywood raised eyebrows because it was for a original idea for a horror film. Now that the trailer has released, viewers are also reacting to the first footage of the upcoming film Weapons, helmed by Barbarian director Zach Cregger. The film sold to production house New Line for an overall sum of a jaw-dropping $38 million, with reports even saying that there were multiple studios that wanted to get hands on the project. (Also read: How two Hollywood stars leveraged their stardom to turn struggling tier-5 football club into £100 million powerhouse)
As the trailer suggests, Weapons revolves around a small-town mystery where the sudden disappearance of multiple children at the same time shocks everyone. It all happens on a random Wednesday morning when 17 children in the fictional town of Maybrook woke up from their beds and ran into the night. They never came back. Julia Garner plays the class teacher of the school who is at the centre of the allegations as questions pile up regarding the mysterious disappearances.
Reacting to the trailer, a fan commented, 'Now that's how you make a trailer, you give people a taste, get them excited and curious without giving away the story. Can't wait to see what Zach Cregger has in store.' A second fan said, 'The child narrating added to the horror factor. It reminds me of those 'I heard to from a friend of a friend' scary stories from my childhood.' A comment read, "You had me at "director of Barbarian". This is gonna be epic."
As per a Deadline report from January 2023, the bidding war for Weapons circled down to two production houses- New Line and Universal. Jordan Peele, the celebrated writer-director of Get Out and Nope, really wanted to produce the film, but Universal's bid for Weapons was $7 million less than New Line. The report also mentioned that the bidding war of Weapons which went up to $38 million included the director receiving $5 million as a director, plus a $10 million total for scripting and producing the film.
The deal landed with New Line and Jordan Peele was left furious to have to let go of this project. 'In the wake of the auction, Peele parted ways this week with his longtime Artists First managers Joel Zadak and Peter Principato, latter of whom is also Cregger's manager,' added the report.
Will the film live upto the expectations that are already preceding its release? Viewers will have to wait till August to find out the answers. Weapons also stars Austin Abrams, Cary Christopher, Benedict Wong, and Amy Madigan.