Universal announced Tuesday that it is pushing the release date of Jordan Peele’s “Us” back one week to March 22 in the wake of news that the upcoming horror movie will be the opening night film at SXSW earlier that month.
The one-week push means that “Us” will now release alongside Lionsgate’s “Five Feet Apart” and Annapurna’s “Where’d You Go Bernadette?,” the latest film from director Richard Linklater. It also means that the film will now be released two weeks after the Marvel blockbuster “Captain Marvel,” and will give it a chance to build more pre-release buzz following the SXSW premiere.
Starring Winston Duke and Lupita Nyong’o, “Us” follows the Wilson family, an African-American quartet whose summer vacation turns into a nightmare after they come face-to-face with murderous doppelgangers of themselves. The trailer for the film, which released on Christmas Day, has over 10 million views on Universal’s YouTube page.
The film will be the first solo production effort by Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions, with Sean McKittrick and Jason Blum also producing alongside the writer-director. Shahadi Wright Joseph, Evan Alex, Elisabeth Moss and Tim Heidecker also star.