The marketing campaign for Zach Cregger's next horror movie, Weapons, is officially underway. Earlier this month, New Line Cinema debuted some exclusive footage from the film at CinemaCon, with chief Richard Brener teasing that it's "intriguing and unpredictable, with a nice helping of batsh*t insane" via Variety.
Considering how wild Cregger's previous film, Barbarian, ended up being, the brief teases we've gotten for Weapons have only made us more excited. Another plus for fans is that the film will be released this August instead of January 2026, so we're just months away from the premiere!
On April 14, Warner Bros. shared a teaser image for Weapons, which consisted of a digital alarm clock set to 2:17 in the morning. Why is that specific time relevant? In Weapons, which has been called a "horror epic," 2:17 am is when the kids in town wake up and walk into the dark, with none of them ever seen again.
First peek at Zach Cregger’s new horror film ‘WEAPONS’
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) April 14, 2025
• Follows a town where an entire classroom of children disappear one night without a trace
• Starring Alden Ehrenreich, Julia Garner, Josh Brolin and Benedict Wong pic.twitter.com/XNynQD6BcV
The movie has a premise a little similar to The Leftovers on a much smaller scale. It is set in a small community where a group of children disappear in the middle of the night. But Weapons will juggle multiple stories, all seemingly related to this significant disappearance.
Do Barbarian and Weapons share a universe?
In addition to the teaser photo, Warner Bros. debuted a website titled "Maybrook News" at maybrookmissing.com. The site features an article about the 17 children who "leave home simultaneously at 2:17 am.
But the real delight nestled in this viral website is an additional article at the bottom that says "Underground Prison Discovered in a Rental Home," with a still from Barbarian used as its featured image. The article is about Tess Marshall from the movie and her chilling discovery in the Brightmoor neighborhood.
The fact that this article is on the same page as the promotional site for Weapons suggests that Cregger is creating his own interconnected universe. At the very least, it means we could see some Barbarian easter eggs or references in his new movie and potentially in his future projects (like Resident Evil).
As for the article about Weapons' disappearances, the website shares that "front door camera footage" showed the large exodus of kids, all vacating their homes at the same time "without any signs of force," and leaving the adults baffled.
By visiting the site, you can also sign up for updates for Weapons, which will be released in theaters on August 8. Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Alden Ehrenreich, Benedict Wong, Austin Abrams, Amy Madigan, and June Diane Raphael star.