Zach Cregger is quickly becoming an in-demand filmmaker, and it doesn’t hurt that his latest horror offering, “Weapons,” landed the number one spot at the domestic box office over the weekend, earning $43.5 million. It sounds like the writer/director is looking to expand the established horror universe with new talk today of Cregger developing a prequel at New Line Cinema/Warner Bros. film focused on Aunt Gladys, played by Amy Madigan.
The reveal of the prequel news is from the folks over at The Hollywood Reporter, who also mention that his DC Comics universe script “Henchmen“ (Cregger has previously said it was his favorite thing he’s written and was said to explore Batman villains) set in Gotham City could be given another look from the newly minted DC Studios (the script that was passed on predates the hiring of James Gunn and Peter Safran also Cregger’s “Barbarian“).
However, there aren’t any deals in place for this “Weapons” prequel, and it is likely simply early days on its development. Another project that was brought up is a completed script for the mysterious “Flood,” being described as being set within the science fiction genre, and doesn’t seem to have a studio home, as one wasn’t named.
It’s worth bringing up that Warner Bros. co-head Michael De Luca is no stranger to the world of horror, as one of his few screenwriting credits includes “Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare” and John Carpenter‘s “In The Mouth of Madness.” This could explain the studio head’s pursuit of things like “Weapons” and Ryan Coogler‘s recent hit “Sinners.”
Next up for Cregger is his new “Resident Evil” remake, which is said to had some interest from Warner Bros. before being picked up by Sony Pictures (their shingle Screen Gems distributed the previous movies led by Milla Jovovich as Alice, a character created for the movies), and sees “Weapons” actor Austin Abrams confirmed for the survival horror video game adaptation set to be released on September 18, 2026.
Cregger has teased that the project likely won’t be as bombastic as the previous iterations and likely lean more towards the survival aspect of the “Resident Evil” franchise.
“Weapons” features a small town community reeling after a group of young schoolmates goes missing one night from their homes, which leads to some creepy/twisty events. Since the movie has earned back its modest $38 million budget after opening weekend results at the global box office, nabbing an impressive $81.2 million, it’s hard not to see the studio’s interest in fleshing out this world with more installments.
