No horror film caught audiences more by surprise in the past decade than “Get Out.” Jordan Peele‘s debut feature was nominated for five Academy Awards, grossed over $255 million worldwide, and helped push social-minded horror films from the fringes of the horror genre to its very center.
If you had to pick a runner-up, though, you could do a lot worse than Fede Álvarez‘s 2016 horror film “Don’t Breathe.” That film may not have won awards, but it still managed to be a big hit with critics and earned $157 million at the global box office to boot. If “Get Out” reminded multiplex audiences that horror could be smart, then “Don’t Breathe” told them that horror could also still be lean and mean.
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Given the success of “Don’t Breathe,” it’s something of a surprise that we still haven’t seen a sequel four years later. Even though Álvarez confirmed a “Don’t Breathe” follow-up was in the works way back in November 2016, Sony hasn’t moved with a sense of urgency. Thankfully, that might be about to change. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the sequel has found its director, tapping “Don’t Breathe’ co-writers and long-time Álvarez collaborator Rodo Sayagues to direct the film.
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In the article, The Hollywood Reporter notes that Stephen Lang will return for the sequel, reprising his role as predatory Blind Man. “Plot details are being kept deep in the chest,” Borys Kit noted, “but ‘Breathe 2’ is set several years after the home invasion of the first movie, with the Blind Man living in quiet solace…until his past sins catch up to him.” Production on the film will begin in April, which puts “Don’t Breathe 2” on track for a 2021 release. Here’s hoping that the sequel can catch just as much lightning in a bottle as the original.