‘Weapons’ Overtakes M. Night Shyamalan’s Failed Franchise-Starter ‘Devil’ in Just 1 Weekend

Despite a disappointing start to the year, marked by the underperformance of Bong Joon Ho’s Mickey 17 and Barry Levinson’s The Alto Knights, Warner Bros. has bounced back in grand fashion with a series of major hits. The latest in this hot-streak is director Zach Cregger’s phenomenally reviewed horror movie Weapons, which nearly challenged recent W.B. hits Sinners and Final Destination Bloodlines in its opening weekend at the box office. Both those films grossed a combined total of over $550 million worldwide, and earned excellent reviews.

Weapons is currently sitting at a “certified fresh” 95% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, which happens to be between Bloodlines’ 93% and Sinners’ 97% ratings. The website’s consensus reads, “Zach Cregger spins an expertly crafted yarn of terrifying mystery and thrilling intrigue in Weapons, a sophomore triumph that solidifies his status as a master of horror.” In his review, Collider’s Ross Bonaime wrote that Weapons “is an inventive, clever, and satisfying second horror film for Cregger, and the ways it plays with both horror and comedy reinforce that Cregger is indeed an outstanding and exciting up-and-coming filmmaker — and not just within the horror genre.”

With $40 million domestically and another $27 million from overseas markets, Weapons’ cumulative global box office debut stands at $70 million. In just three days, the movie has now overtaken the entire lifetime haul of the M. Night Shyamalan-produced horror-thriller Devil. Inspired by Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None,” Devil was supposed to launch a trilogy of unconnected supernatural thrillers, marketed as “The Night Chronicles.” However, the first film’s underperformance, and Shyamalan’s declining brand value — Devil was released in the same year as the filmmaker’s disastrous The Last Airbender — resulted in the franchise being scrapped.

‘Weapons’ Reportedly Inspired a Bidding War

Weapons was produced on a reported budget of $38 million, having inspired a heated bidding war in the industry. Jordan Peele was reportedly in the running, but was eventually outbid by New Line. Cregger became a hot property in Hollywood after breaking out with the ambitious horror film Barbarian. Released in 2022, the movie made around $45 million worldwide, against a reported budget of $4 million. Weapons follows a young teacher whose students disappear one night, sending their town into paranoia and panic. Julia Garner stars in the lead role, alongside Josh Brolin, Alden Ehrenreich, Benedict Wong, and Austin Abrams. While franchise horror has had a difficult run in the last year, original horror has fared much better. Perhaps Weapons can keep this trend going. You can watch the moviein theaters, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.