Weapons is a 2025 American supernatural mystery horror film directed, written, produced, and co-scored by Zach Cregger. It stars an ensemble cast including Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams, Cary Christopher, Toby Huss, Benedict Wong, and Amy Madigan. Its plot follows the case of seventeen children from the same classroom who mysteriously run away on the same night at the same time.
After the critical and commercial success of his film Barbarian (2022), Cregger began working on the spec script for Weapons. It prompted a bidding war between several studios, with New Line Cinema emerging as the victor. Initially intended to film from May to July 2023, several actors dropped out due to conflicts caused by the 2023 Hollywood labor disputes. Casting resumed in February 2024 and ended in May of that year. Filming began in Atlanta and concluded in July.
Weapons was released in theaters in North America on August 8, 2025, by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film received critical acclaim, and was a box-office success, grossing $270 million against a $38 million budget. Madigan's performance was singled out for praise, winning the Academy Award and the Actor Award (SAG Award) for Best Supporting Actress, and was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award in the same category.
A prequel, titled Gladys, is scheduled to be released on September 8, 2028.
Plot
A child narrator explains that on a Wednesday night, seventeen children in Maybrook, Pennsylvania, ran out of their homes at 2:17 a.m. and vanished into the night. The missing were all students of Justine Gandy's third-grade class, from which only one child, Alex Lilly, remained. Justine is accused by the students' parents of being involved in their disappearance, and she is placed on administrative leave. One father, Archer Graff, is particularly suspicious of her.
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 and discovers his house's windows covered with newspaper and his parents sitting motionless inside. When Justine falls asleep in her car while staking out the house, Alex's mother exits in a trance and cuts a lock of Justine's hair while she sleeps. Frustrated with the lack of leads, Archer starts his own investigation. After comparing his and another couple's video doorbell footage, Archer discovers the children's paths were directly converging on an unknown location. Both Archer and Justine become plagued by nightmares of the missing children, along with a mysterious elderly woman.
While on patrol, Paul prevents James, a homeless drug addict, from committing a burglary and pricks himself on a needle in James's pocket while frisking him. Paul angrily strikes James, then releases him after realizing his patrol car's camera recorded the assault. James burgles Alex's house, discovering the missing children in the basement, seemingly catatonic. While heading to the police station to claim the reward money, he is noticed by Paul, who chases him into the woods, thinking James was there to report the assault. James briefly encounters the mysterious woman before Paul catches him. James tells him of the children's whereabouts, and Paul brings James to Alex's house to investigate. Paul leaves a handcuffed James in the car, and after several hours, he bursts from the house and drags a screaming James inside.
Principal Marcus Miller is persuaded by Justine to conduct a wellness check on Alex. Before he can schedule it, the mysterious woman arrives at his office and introduces herself as Alex's Aunt Gladys, claiming she is helping to care for Alex's ill parents. Although she assures Marcus everything is alright, he insists on the welfare check. Gladys later accosts Marcus at his home, cutting a lock of hair from Marcus's husband Terry and using it to perform a bewitchment ritual on Marcus. Marcus is compelled to murder Terry at Gladys's command and is ordered to kill Justine next. Marcus locates Justine at a gas station, where she is arguing with Archer. Archer defends Justine long enough for her to escape in her car. When Marcus tries to give chase, he is fatally hit by another car. Archer later reconciles and makes amends with Justine. Later that night, the two of them deduce that the children were all converging on Alex's house on the night of the disappearance.
It is revealed that Alex's mother had invited Gladys, a witch who is a distant and homeless relative, into their home, where she immediately bewitched his parents, compelling them into self-harm in order to force Alex to do her bidding. Alex obeyed Gladys's order to gather personal belongings from his classmates, which she used to summon them to the house, where she keeps them locked in the basement in order to feed off their energy. After realizing she has been discovered, Gladys makes preparations to leave with Alex when Archer and Justine arrive. They are immediately attacked by the bewitched Paul and James, who are both shot to death by Justine. Archer enters the basement, only to be ambushed and bewitched by Gladys into attacking Justine. Alex, meanwhile, breaks a totem to target Gladys with her own spell. The children storm out of the basement and pursue Gladys through the neighborhood, ultimately catching her and, with the spell giving them inhuman strength, tear her head in half. Gladys's death breaks the spell over her victims, although all but Archer are left catatonic. Justine finds Alex embracing his parents, while Archer carries his son Matthew home.
The child narrator reveals that Alex moved out of town to live with a different aunt after his parents were institutionalized. The children returned home, with some beginning to talk again some time later.
Cast
Josh Brolin as Archer Graff, a construction contractor and the father of Matthew, one of the missing children Julia Garner as Justine Gandy, an elementary school teacher whose class has vanished Alden Ehrenreich as Paul Morgan, a police officer and Justine's ex-boyfriend Austin Abrams as James, a homeless drug addict and burglar Cary Christopher as Alex Lilly, the only child from Justine's class who did not disappear Amy Madigan as Aunt Gladys, Alex's elderly relative Toby Huss as Ed Locke, the police captain and Paul's father-in-law Benedict Wong as Marcus Miller, the sympathetic school principal Sara Paxton as Erica, the mother of Bailey, one of the missing children Justin Long as Gary, the father of Bailey, one of the missing children June Diane Raphael as Donna Morgan, Paul's wife and Ed's daughter Whitmer Thomas as Alex's father Callie Schuttera as Alex's mother Luke Speakman as Matthew Graff, Archer's son and one of Justine's missing students Clayton Farris as Terry Miller, Marcus's husband Scarlett Sher as voice of the child narrator
Production
Development After the financial and critical success of his film Barbarian (2022), Zach Cregger began work on a new spec script titled Weapons. It has been described as a "horror epic" with a more "personal story" for the filmmaker. He cited the films Magnolia (1999), Prisoners (2013) and the Jennifer Egan novel A Visit from the Goon Squad (2010) as inspiration. Cregger was inspired to write the screenplay after the death of his close friend and collaborator, Trevor Moore. A reference to a sketch written by Moore for The Whitest Kids U' Know was added into the finished script. The screenplay entered the market on January 22, 2023, sparking interest by Netflix, New Line Cinema, TriStar Pictures and Universal Pictures.
Cregger electronically distributed the script to studios early one morning and by 8 a.m. Michael De Luca, CEO of Warner Bros. Pictures, contacted him to close the deal. The exchange took less than 90 minutes, according to Cregger. 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 a final cut privilege (pending test screening reactions to the film) in addition to a guaranteed theatrical release. Universal offered $7 million less than Warner Bros. Jordan Peele's company Monkeypaw 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.
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. 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.Weapons' Filmmaker Zach Cregger on Script-to-Screen Changes and Bill Hader's Key Contribution
Casting In May 2023, Pedro Pascal and Renate Reinsve were announced as part of the cast. Cregger later confirmed that the original cast included Pascal and Reinsve alongside Brian Tyree Henry and Austin Abrams. Production was delayed by the 2023 Hollywood labor disputes, which created schedule conflicts for the four actors, particularly for Pascal who had several projects lined up.
In February 2024, Josh Brolin replaced Pascal. In April, Julia Garner and Alden Ehrenreich were cast in the film. In May, Benedict Wong, Amy Madigan, Austin Abrams, Cary Christopher and June Diane Raphael joined the cast. Abrams was the only cast member from the original cast to remain in the final film, explaining, "I loved the part and I didn't wanna let it go. So I just really held on 'cause I really wanted to do it."
The importance of Gladys' character necessitated the correct casting for that role. Cregger recalled liking Madigan's performance in Field of Dreams (1989), and believed she would give a great performance after spotting her in a list of potential casting choices. 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 using witchcraft to prevent her dying from an incurable condition, and one where she was instead an immortal creature performing an approximate simulacrum of a human being, but that he did not ask her which one she chose.
Filming and post-production Principal photography took place in the Atlanta area in May 2024 and wrapped in July 2024. The Maybrook Elementary School location was in Tucker, Georgia. According to Time Out, on the busiest days of filming, 170 children were involved. Child labor coordinators were enlisted to keep the kids engaged outside of filming. The gas station scenes were filmed over the course of three days at a BP gas station and convenience store in Covington, Georgia. The film initially ended with a silent shot of Matthew. After it received negative reactions at a test screening, a voiceover from the child narrator was added.
Music
The soundtrack to Weapons was released by WaterTower Music on August 1, 2025. The soundtrack contains 36 tracks composed by Ryan Holladay, Hays Holladay and Cregger himself. Additionally, the opening sequence of the film features the song "Beware of Darkness" by George Harrison and the end credits feature the song "Under the Porch" by MGMT. The protagonist Justine also, briefly, plays the song "Gotta Get Up" by Harry Nilsson on her cell phone speaker.
Release and reception