Last Updated on April 8, 2025 by Angel Melanson
Anticipation is high for Weapons, Zach Cregger's follow-up to his 2022 horror hit Barbarian, with plot points so far remaining mostly a mystery. That is until last night's CinemaCon, where lucky attendees got to check out the first trailer that's being described as “deeply unsettling”.
Starring Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Alden Ehrenreich, Benedict Wong, Austin Abrams (also set to lead Cregger's upcoming Resident Evil reboot), Amy Madigan, and June Diane Raphael, Weapons has previously been described as a “multi-story horror epic” following the fallout of a group of kids who mysteriously disappear overnight.
Originally slated for release in January 2026, the R-ratedWeapons has been bumped up to a much earlier date of August 8 of this year, demonstrating a keen amount of confidence from Warner Bros (Barbarian grossed $45.4 million worldwide against a production budget of $4.5 million).
Variety ‘s Matt Donnelly recounts the details from last night's Warner presentation, where a Weapons trailer cut exclusively for global movie theater owners was played:
Garner stars as an elementary school teacher having possibly the worst day ever, when one morning she arrives to school to find her entire first period class disappeared the night before.
“Mrs. Gandy’s room was totally empty,” recounts an innocent but ominous little girl in a voiceover on the trailer cut exclusively for global movie theater owners. “Because the night before, at 2:17 a.m., every kid woke up, got out of bed, walked downstairs and into the dark and they never came back.”
As the small town where Cregger’s horror show is set reels from the news, Garner’s teacher becomes the focal point of parental and administrative anger. It’s not long before these missing kids start appearing to her as apparitions — rocking hollow eye sockets and disturbing smiles. Brolin plays a particularly heartsick parent coming for Garner and demanding answers about his missing daughter.
Donnelly goes on to say that “we can’t stress how upsetting some of this footage was”, also teasing terrifying sleepwalking children and “a terrifying figure hiding deep in the woods, one that looked overwhelmingly like a female clown.”
New Line Cinema chief Richard Brener described the film as “intriguing and unpredictable, with a nice helping of batshit insane. We think you’ll appreciate the ride.”
If we weren't already completely sold on Weapons, we certainly are now. Creepy kids make for some of the scariest horror stories out there – just look at Village of the Damned or Children of the Corn.
With Weapons‘ release date creeping ever closer, a trailer for those of us not at CinemaCon is surely just around the corner. Keep your eyes peeled.
