Last year, New Line Cinema went all-in on a partnership with Barbarian (watch it HERE) writer/director Zach Cregger and the film’s producers at BoulderLight Pictures. New Line came out the winner in a bidding war over Cregger’s next film, a mysterious horror project called Weapons… which was, at one point, set to star Pedro Pascal of The Last of Us and Renate Reinsve of The Worst Person in the World. Pascal had to leave the project so he could star in the Marvel Cinematic Universe reboot of Fantastic Four instead – and even though that much larger production hasn’t started filming yet, as of right now it looks like Fantastic Four is going to beat Weapons to the screen by about six months! While that superhero movie is set to reach theatres on July 25, 2025, New Line has announced (via Deadline) that Weapons has been given a theatrical release date of January 16, 2026!
We’ve never heard why Reinsve followed Pascal off the project, but we do know that the cast currently consists of Josh Brolin (No Country for Old Men), Julia Garner (Ozark), Alden Ehrenreich (Solo), Benedict Wong (Doctor Strange), Amy Madigan (Antlers), Austin Abrams (Euphoria), and Cary Christopher (Days of Our Lives).
Details on the characters the cast members will be playing are being kept under wraps. In fact, most details about Weapons are shrouded in mystery. It has been said that it’s “an interrelated, multistory horror epic” that’s tonally in the vein of Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia, and The Hollywood Reporter adds that the story revolves around the disappearance of high schoolers in a small town.
Cregger wrote the Weapons screenplay and will be directing the film. He’s also producing it with Roy Lee and Miri Yoon of Vertigo and J.D. Lifshitz and Raphael Margules of BoulderLight Pictures.
New Line Cinema is paying Cregger a sum in the eight figure range to make this movie. When they won the bidding war over the rights, New Line’s president and CCO Richard Brener released the following statement: “Zach proved with Barbarian that he can create a visceral theatrical experience for audiences and that he commands every tool in the filmmaker toolbelt. We couldn’t be happier that he, Roy [Lee] and Miri [Yoon], and J.D. [Lifshitz]and Rafi [Margules] chose New Line to be the home of his next film, and hope it is the first of many to come.“
In addition to working with them on Weapons, New Line signed a first look deal with BoulderLight Pictures, tasking the company with developing high concept genre projects for them, and they gave a greenlight to the sci-fi thriller Companion, produced by BoulderLight and Cregger. That film will be reaching theatres a full year ahead of Weapons.
Are you looking forward to Weapons? What do you think of the film being given a January 2026 release date? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.