Jordan Peele is staying in business with Universal Pictures, as the studio has just set an untitled fourth film from the “Nope” writer/director for release on Dec. 25, 2024. Additionally, an untitled horror/thriller from Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions will open in theaters on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024.
Other movies dated for Christmas 2024 include James Cameron’s third “Avatar” movie and the third movie in the “Sonic the Hedgehog” film franchise. Recently, Broadway adaptation “Wicked, Part 1” scooted out of the Christmas timeframe to occupy a new Thanksgiving slot. “Wicked,” like the Peele project, will be released by Universal.
Peele’s feature directorial debut, “Get Out,” was released by Universal in 2017 and grossed over $255 million against a budget of just $4.5 million. On top of being an astounding commercial success, it netted Peele a Best Original Screenplay Oscar with additional nominations for Best Picture, Director and Actor. That Academy Award-winning screenplay, about a Black man (Daniel Kaluuya) who visits his white girlfriend’s (Allison Williams) family for the weekend with sinister consequences, was also named the greatest screenplay of the 21st century by the Writer’s Guild of America.
Peele followed “Get Out” with 2019’s “Us,” which grossed $256 million and garnered acclaim for Lupita Nyong’o’s performance. And while the movie, about evil doppelgängers living in the sewers beneath our world, didn’t ignite the imagination in the same way “Get Out” did, it is in many ways a better film; more imaginatively staged and photographed and with a more ambitious screenplay. It’s clearly made a mark on pop culture, as well, with people dressed up as “the Tethered” popping up every Halloween (and in a scene from “Scream VI,” no less).
“Nope,” Peele’s third film for Universal, opened last summer to critical acclaim and grossed over $171 million. This project, which expanded his ambition even further than “Us,” was a rootin’ tootin’ sci-fi western horror-comedy about a brother and sister (played by Kaluuya and Keke Palmer) who are menaced by a UFO outside their family ranch. While it didn’t nab any Oscar nominations, it was just as beloved (and puzzled over) as Peele’s earlier films, if not more so. Universal Studios Hollywood opened an entirely new section of the Backlot Studio Tour devoted to the movie, as tourists were able to creep through Jupiter’s Claim, the western theme park from the movie. And The New York Times’ A.O. Scott named “Nope” the best movie of 2022, writing, “The movie is a genre joyride and a philosophical puzzle. And it has plenty to say — about labor, family, race, grief and (yes) movies — in a visual language that feels at once familiar and radically new.”
As to what the upcoming Monkeypaw horror movie for the fall of 2024 could be, there are several projects in development at the shingle that could fit the bill.
“Sinkhole,” a thriller based on Leyna Krow’s short story about a mysterious sinkhole that shows up in a family’s backyard with the power to fix broken things, was announced in 2020 as a potential vehicle for Issa Rae. There’s also the upcoming project from “Nanny” filmmaker Nikyatu Jusu, which Jusu confirmed recently is an expansion of her short film “Suicide by Sunlight,” which debuted at Sundance back in 2019. The film is about Black vampires who are protected against the sun thanks to the melanin in their skin.
And then there’s a proposed remake of Wes Craven’s “The People Under the Stairs,” which was rumored back in 2020. There hasn’t been any movement on that front (or even official confirmation), but it seems like the kind of ambitious project Peele and Monkeypaw would mount, with the movie’s mixture of humor, horror and social commentary obviously appealing to Peele. If “The People Under the Stairs” can be as fun and ambitious as his “Candyman” remake from a few years ago, then we’ll be in good hands.
As for what Peele’s new movie is, it’s anybody’s guess. And while he has teased continuing the “Nope” saga in some way, we are assuming it will be wholly original. Whatever the Christmas 2024 movie is, we’ll be first in line.
