After the critical and commercial success of his filmBarbarian (2022), Cregger began working on thespec script forWeapons. It prompted a bidding war between several studios, withNew Line Cinema emerging as the victor. The2023 Hollywood labor disputes disrupted casting. It initially ran from May to July 2023 before several actors dropped out due to conflicts. Casting resumed in February 2024 and ended in May of that year. Filming then began inAtlanta, concluding in July.
Weapons was released in theaters in the United States on August 8, 2025, byWarner Bros. Pictures. The film received positive reviews and was a box office success, grossing $270 million against a $38 million budget. Madigan was nominated for anAcademy Award and aGolden Globe Award.
One night at 2:17 AM in the town of Maybrook,Pennsylvania, seventeen children from teacher Justine Gandy's third-grade classroom run out of their homes and disappear. Only one student, Alex Lilly, remained. Justine is placed on leave amid suspicion that she is responsible for their disappearance. Archer Graff, the father of Matthew (one of the missing children), is particularly suspicious.
Justine relapses into alcoholism and has a one-night stand with her married ex-boyfriend, police officer Paul Morgan. Concerned for Alex's welfare, Justine follows him home, discovering the windows of his house covered with newspaper and his parents sitting motionless inside. Justine stakes out Alex's house from her car, but falls asleep by nighttime. Alex's mother exits her home in a trance, enters Justine's car and cuts a lock of Justine's hair while she sleeps.
Archer grows frustrated with the police and starts his own investigation. Reviewingsmart doorbell footage of Matthew and another child, he notices that their running paths converge to an unknown destination. Both Justine and Archer have nightmares about the missing children and a mysterious elderly woman.
While on patrol, Paul stops James, a homeless drug addict, from committing a burglary. While frisking James, Paul is pricked by one of his needles. Paul strikes James in anger, knocking him out. When Paul realizes his car's dashcam caught the incident, he releases James to avoid retaliation.
James burgles Alex's house and accidentally discovers the missing children in the basement. He goes to the police station to report his findings and collect the $50,000 reward, but Paul spots and chases him. While fleeing through the woods, James notices the mysterious woman. When Paul catches him, James claims to know about the children's whereabouts. The pair arrive at Alex's house, where Paul enters to investigate, leaving James handcuffed in his car. Hours later, Paul comes out and, in a frenzy, drags James inside.
After Justine implores principal Marcus Miller to check on Alex, the mysterious woman arrives at the school and introduces herself as Alex's aunt Gladys. She claims that she is helping care for Alex's family after his parents fell ill. When Marcus insists on performing a wellness check the following day, Gladys unexpectedly arrives at Marcus's home. She cuts off a lock of hair from Marcus's husband, Terry, and performs a bewitchment ritual on Marcus, who murders Terry at Gladys's command. She then sends him to kill Justine. Marcus finds her at a gas station arguing with Archer and attacks her. Archer defends Justine, who flees in her car. Marcus chases after her into traffic and is fatally run over. Archer later reconciles with Justine and shows her his findings. She deduces that the children were running toward Alex's house.
A flashback reveals that Alex's mother had invited Gladys, a distant relative, to her home, as she suffers from an incurable illness and is homeless. Alex later comes home to discover that Gladys has bewitched his parents, threatening to make them kill themselves if Alex reveals her presence to others. Needing more victims, Gladys instructs Alex to gather a personal belonging from each of his classmates, promising to leave afterwards. After Alex complies, Gladys bewitches the children, summoning them to the basement to feed off their life force.
In the present, realizing she has been discovered, Gladys informs Alex that they need to leave. Archer and Justine enter Alex's house and are attacked by the bewitched Paul and James. Justine manages to get Paul's gun and kills them both. Archer searches for Matthew in the basement, only to be bewitched by Gladys into attacking Justine. Alex evades his bewitched parents and replicates Gladys' spell, targeting her. The children chase after Gladys, who flees through the neighborhood until they catch her andtear her apart. Upon her death, her victims are freed from their bewitchment, though all but Archer remain catatonic. Justine finds Alex embracing his parents, while Archer carries Matthew home. Alex moves out of town to live with a different aunt after his parents areinstitutionalized. The children return home, and some begin talking again.
Cregger electronically distributed the script to studios early in morning and by 8:00 amMichael De Luca, CEO of Warner Bros. Pictures, contacted him to close the deal. The exchange took less than 90 minutes, according to Cregger.[7] New Line secured the rights within 24 hours after offering $38million to cover all costs, including production and salaries. Cregger received $10million as writer, director, and producer and afinal cut privilege (pendingtest screening reactions to the film) in addition to a guaranteed theatrical release.[12] Universal offered $7 million less than Warner Bros.[14]Jordan Peele's companyMonkeypaw Productions participated in the bidding war in conjunction with Universal. Peele dismissed longtime managers Joel Zadak and Peter Principato, the latter of whom was also Cregger's manager, after losing the opportunity.[15]
Cregger's CAA agent, Joe Mann, negotiated the $10 million upfront fee. Cregger deferred $2 million in return for 50 backend points on the film.[16] Revisions to the script following the sale included having Archer apologize to his employees during a scene at a construction site as well as having Alex steal the name tags for Aunt Gladys.[17]
The importance of Gladys' character necessitated the correct casting for that role. Cregger recalled liking Madigan's performance inField of Dreams (1989), and believed she would give a great performance after spotting her in a list of potential casting choices.[26] According to him, Madigan "saved" the film. When discussing the character, he stated that he gave her two options as to Gladys's origin: one where she was a regular person usingwitchcraft to prevent her dying from an incurable condition, and one where she was instead an immortal creature performing an approximatesimulacrum of a human being, but that he did not ask her which one she chose.[27]
Principal photography took place in theAtlanta area in May 2024[22] and wrapped in July 2024.[28] The Maybrook Elementary School location was inTucker, Georgia.[28] According toTime Out, on the busiest days of filming, 170 children were involved. Child labor coordinators were enlisted to keep the kids engaged outside of filming.[28] The gas station scenes were filmed over the course of three days at aBP gas station and convenience store inCovington, Georgia.[28] The film initially ended with a silent shot of Matthew. After it received negative reactions at atest screening, a voiceover from the child narrator was added.[29]
Weapons was originally scheduled to be theatrically released in the United States and Canada on January 16, 2026, before being rescheduled to be released on August 8, 2025, due to strong, positive reception fromtest screenings.[33][34] The earliest Thursday screenings were held at 2:17 p.m., a reference to the film having 2:17 a.m. as a major plot point.[35] The film was released onVOD on September 9, 2025, and onDVD,Blu-ray andUltra HD Blu-ray on October 14, 2025.[36][37] The film was released onHBO Max on October 24, 2025.[38]
Weapons grossed $151.6 million in the United States and Canada, and $117.5 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $270 million.[3][4] In September 2025,Variety reported the film was expected to make a theatrical profit of at least $65 million.[39]
In the United States and Canada,Weapons was released alongsideFreakier Friday andSketch, and was projected to gross $25–40 million from 3,200 theaters in its opening weekend.[14][2] It grossed $18.2 million on its first day, including $5.7 million from Thursday previews.[40][41] It went on to debut to $43.5 million, topping the box office and making Warner Bros. the first studio in history to have six consecutive films open at #1 with more than $40 million (Weapons followedA Minecraft Movie,Sinners,Final Destination Bloodlines,F1, andSuperman).[42][43] The film dropped only 44% in the second weekend, grossing $24.4 million while maintaining the top spot.[44] The film dropped to second place in its third weekend behind the sing-along version ofKPop Demon Hunters, which grossed $19.2 million, whileWeapons grossed $15.4 million.[45]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 93% of 393 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "Zach Cregger spins an expertly crafted yarn of terrifying mystery and thrilling intrigue inWeapons, a sophomore triumph that solidifies his status as a master of horror."[46]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 81 out of 100, based on 48 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[47] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, while those surveyed byPostTrak gave it an average 4 out of 5 stars, with 65% saying they would "definitely recommend" it.[48][49]
TheSan Francisco Chronicle dubbed Cregger a "true horror auteur".[50]Empire gaveWeapons 5/5 stars, marveling that Cregger seemed to effortlessly turn parental grief over missing children into a crowd-pleasing subject.[51] Brian Tallerico ofRogerEbert.com gave the film 3.5/4 stars and deemed it superior toBarbarian, "One of the greatest strengths of Cregger's ambitious script is its abject refusal to connect every dot in the manner that so much 'elevated horror' has done in recent years. Still, it's not overly difficult to read the inciting incident ofWeapons as aschool shooting allegory."[52]Variety praised the film, "Regardless of how you feel about the bittersweet ending (and many will happily embrace the movie's darkly comic bittersweet finale), Cregger has achieved something remarkable here, crafting a cruel and twisted bedtime story of the sort theBrothers Grimm might have spun—not the kid-friendly Disney version, mind you, but the kind where characters kill on command and audiences find it difficult to sleep afterward."[53]
Tim Grierson ofScreen Daily felt the finale was "superbly orchestrated" and praised Cregger for "answering the riddles he has teased throughout the runtime".[54] Lisa Wright ofLondon Evening Standard stated that "if you enjoyed the bonkers roll out ofThe Substance, chances are you'll like this. It all makes for a winning watch, with more layers than your average scare fest and a twinkle in its evil eye."[55] Charles Pulliam-Moore ofThe Verge praised the film's meditation on "how communities often conjure up convenient boogeymen to blame, rather than confronting the things that actually endanger children."[56]
Tom Jorgensen ofIGN scored the film 9/10 and called it "a righteous, fully actualized genre-bender in which writer-director Zach Cregger honesBarbarian's blend of unbearable tension and dark humor to a new level of razor-sharpness."[57] TheAssociated Press gave the film 4.5/5 stars, "IfBarbarian came out of left field three years ago and heralded an exciting new voice in filmmaking,Weapons doesn't disappoint but it doesn't have the advantage of surprise."[58]
In her review forThe New York Times,Manohla Dargis felt Cregger's structure was not completely successful, "the segmentation and overlapping just feel like a whole lot of delay tactics."[59] William Bibbiani ofTheWrap praised the cinematography for finding "the eeriest camera angle in damn near every scene, whether it's overtly shocking or insidiously banal", but he found the ending contrived, especially given how Cregger "invited us to ponder more powerful possibilities for over an hour before tipping his hand."[60]
Cregger discussed a potential sequel toWeapons in an interview withVariety, saying he was excited about the idea but wanted to make other films first.[102] In an interview withFangoria, he said he had been discussing a concept for a prequel about Aunt Gladys with Warner Bros.[103]
^Newspapers, LEE CLARK ZUMPE, Tampa Bay (October 16, 2025)."Scream-o-rama cinema 2025".TBNweekly.Archived from the original on October 16, 2025. RetrievedOctober 16, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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