Posted 43 minutes agoSubscribe to Screen Time NewsletterCaret Down"Weapons" Is Already A Wild Horror Movie, But These 21 Facts Have Me Looking At It Completely DifferentlyHold on, because things are about to get weird.by Morgan MurrellBuzzFeed StaffFacebookPinterestLink 1. Weapons was first scheduled for a January 2026 release. Warner Bros. /Courtesy Everett Collection But due to positive early screen tests, the release date was moved up. Quantrell Colbert /(C) Warner Bros. /Courtesy Everett Collection 2. The plot of the movie surrounds Maybrook, PA community members trying to figure out how 17 children from the same third-grade class all disappeared on the same day, at the same time. Warner Bros. /Courtesy Everett Collection Parents anxiously attempt to get answers and find their kids, while the third-grade teacher, whose students all went missing, pleads her innocence. Shockingly, there's only one student who doesn't vanish. Warner Bros. /Courtesy Everett Collection 3. Weapons is broken down into chapters and is told through multiple characters' perspectives. Warner Bros. /Courtesy Everett Collection The story unfolds through interconnected chapters, each centered on a different perspective - from a grieving father to a guilt‑ridden teacher to a child forever changed. This structure intensifies the mystery and deepens emotional resonance. Warner Bros. /Courtesy Everett Collection 4. Pedro Pascal was originally supposed to star in the film. Gilbert Flores / Variety via Getty Images That's right, director Zach Cregger had a completely different cast in mind for this project. Unfortunately, due to the Hollywood actors' and writers' strikes of 2023, filming for Weapons got delayed, which turned into a scheduling issue for Pedro. "I had a whole different cast for this movie," Zach told Entertainment Weekly. "And then we had the strike, and then Pedro Pascal's schedule threw us into turmoil. I had to recast the entire movie." Noam Galai / Getty Images for Disney 5. Zach's initial cast included four key actors: Pedro Pascal, Brian Tyree Henry (Atlanta, Eternals), Renate Reinsve (The Worst Person in the World, Armand), and Austin Abrams (Wolfs, Chemical Hearts). Scheduling conflicts also arose for Brian and Renate, which forced them to step away from the film. Arturo Holmes / WireImage, Sébastien Courdji / Getty Images "This is what happens, right? The strikes delayed us," Zach told Entertainment Weekly. "And then when you delay, people's schedules get conflicts, and then you're back at square one. I bear no ill will towards anybody. We just kept getting delayed and delayed. It's like a domino effect. So I had to start over again." Savion Washington / FilmMagic 6. This isn't Zach's first experience with horror. He also wrote and made his directorial debut with the 2022 hit thriller, Barbarian. Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images for Disney The film starred Bill Skarsgård, Justin Long, Georgina Campbell, Kate Bosworth, and Sara Paxton (who also happens to be Zach's wife). 20th Century Studios /Courtesy Everett Collection 7. Barbarian is actually one of the main reasons Austin Abrams was the only actor out of the final four to stick around. In Weapons, Austin plays James, a man experiencing homelessness, dealing with a drug addiction. "He hung tough with me. That's my dude right there," Zach said of Austin. Savion Washington / FilmMagic "I'd seen Barbarian with a friend. I remember when it cut to Justin Long in the car, I just knew I loved whoever made that movie," Austin said. "I was able to get in contact with Zach, and then it turned out he was making something. He thought I was a good fit for it, potentially.... 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." Warner Bros. /Courtesy Everett Collection 8. The final cast features Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, Cary Cristopher, Alden Ehrenreich, Benedict Wong, Austin Abrams, June Diane Raphael, and Amy Madigan. Gilbert Flores / Variety via Getty Images Julia replaced Renate; Josh replaced Pedro; and Benedict replaced Brian. Warner Bros. /Courtesy Everett Collection 9. Josh Brolin was excited to join the cast because of the "brilliant" script and Zach's unique take on horror. Warner Bros. /Courtesy Everett Collection "You're looking for great filmmakers, and you're hoping that there's another new good filmmaker," Josh told the Hollywood Reporter. "Right now, with so much content, you're just watching things on whatever streaming service you're on, and you're just going, 'Why is this so boring, man? Why?' And you just go to the next thing. It's all the same." Quantrell Colbert / (C) Warner Bros. / Courtesy Everett Collection "And then someone not only takes the horror genre, but then fucks with it, and then does something on the edge of absurdity, and it's sort of humorous, so it's keeping you off-balance enough for him to have an emotional impact." 10. Amy's character, Gladys, Alex Lilly's (Cary Christopher's charact