A suburban nightmare unfolds in the new trailer for Weapons, dropped by Warner Bros. on April 29, 2025, with Josh Brolin and Julia Garner caught in a desperate scramble to unravel why kids are disappearing into the night. Directed by Zach Cregger, the guy behind Barbarian, this horror-thriller’s first full look is a gut-punch of dread, packed with eerie visuals and a story that twists like a knife.
The trailer opens in a quiet town where everything feels too normal—until it’s not. Kids slip out of their beds, vanishing without a trace. Brolin’s voice, gritty and strained, asks, “What do you see that I don’t?” as he talks to someone off-screen, hinting at a mystery that’s tearing the community apart. Garner’s character, wide-eyed and intense, seems to be piecing together clues while chaos brews. The footage shows fleeting glimpses of kids running through dark streets, empty houses, and something sinister lurking just out of sight. It’s not gore or jump-scares driving the terror here—it’s the creeping fear of what’s snatching these children.
Cregger, speaking at CinemaCon 2025 earlier in April, called Weapons a “twisty, turny movie” that keeps reinventing itself. He wasn’t kidding. A teaser released on April 21 already showed frantic scenes of children bolting from their homes, setting the stage for a story that feels like it’ll unravel in ways you won’t see coming. The cast is stacked—alongside Brolin and Garner, you’ve got Alden Ehrenreich, Benedict Wong, Amy Madigan, Austin Abrams, and Cary Christopher. Warner Bros. has slated the film for release on August 8, 2025.
Production details are sparse, but the project’s been in the works for a while. Garner joined the cast back in April 2024, with Brolin already on board. Cregger, who co-wrote the script with Matthew Orton, is leaning hard into a multi-layered horror epic, drawing comparisons to Magnolia for its sprawling, interconnected vibe. New Line Cinema, a Warner Bros. division, is backing the film, with Cregger also producing alongside Roy Lee, J.D. Lifshitz, Raphael Margules, and Miri Yoon.
The trailer doesn’t give away the plot’s core—just enough to make your skin crawl. It’s set in a single town, rocked by the disappearance of an entire classroom of kids in one night. No ransom notes, no clues, just gone. Brolin and Garner’s characters, though not fully fleshed out in the footage, seem to be at the heart of the search, racing against time as the town frays. The visuals are stark: abandoned bikes, flickering streetlights, parents screaming into the void. Cregger’s direction leans on atmosphere over cheap shocks, and it’s effective as hell.
Weapons is shaping up to be a major release for New Line, building on Cregger’s rep for delivering smart, unsettling horror. The film’s budget and specific shooting locations haven’t been disclosed, but principal photography wrapped before the CinemaCon presentation. Warner Bros. is keeping a tight lid on further details, with no official synopsis beyond what’s teased in the trailer and Cregger’s comments.
The movie hits theaters on August 8, 2025, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It’s rated R, though no specific reasons have been given yet. The runtime hasn’t been announced.