You can finally take writer/director Zach Cregger’s “Weapons” home.
The horror epic, about a classroom full of kids that mysteriously vanish at 2:17 a.m., was released in theaters this summer, where it promptly became a huge hit. It made more than $267 million worldwide, which is even more impressive when you consider that it was an original concept, not based on a preexisting property. There are even rumblings that the movie, which stars Julia Garner, Josh Brolin and Alden Ehrenreich, could be a low-key Oscar contender. (Amy Madigan should be a shoo-in for Best Supporting Actress.)
And if you wanted to further explore its mysteries over and over again, now is your chance, with the film available on digital (on Apple TV, Prime Video, Fandango on Demand and other platforms) and physical media (DVD, Blu-ray and 4K UHD).
TheWrap spoke to Cregger about some of the things everyone has been talking about since the release of “Weapons.” “You hope people are going to respond to it and try and keep your expectations low and but that’s a hard thing to do,” Cregger said about the oversized response to “Weapons.” “But I was very pleasantly surprised.”
Read on for Cregger’s breakdown of some of “Weapons” most talked-about moments. But a massive spoiler warning should be issued ahead.
The Hot Dog Tray
There is a pivotal moment in the film when Marcus (Benedict Wong), the school principal where the kids went missing, is bringing his husband lunch and it’s a tray of hot dogs with cookies, carrots and ranch dressing. There was something about this platter that really sparked the imagination of people online.
“I mean, first of all, who doesn’t love hot dogs? They’re delicious. It’s a Saturday. There’s two grown men eating them. When I eat hot dogs, I usually have at least two. Sometimes I have three,” Cregger said. “There were seven on that tray. So I think it’s okay. I’m a little blown away by what a meal has been made out of those hot dogs, but that’s alright.”
On the sides, Cregger said, “You’re not going to eat hot dogs without cookies and ranch.”
Gladys Popping Up in Archer and Justine’s Dreams
One of the big questions we had was why Gladys (Madigan), revealed to be the mastermind behind the kids’ disappearance, would pop up in the dreams of schoolteacher Julia (Garner) and Archer (Brolin), the father of one of the lost children.
“I think it’s open to interpretation for anyone. What I think is going on is not necessarily what’s going on. Everybody gets to have their own correct guess at why,” Cregger explained. “For me personally, I this is going to sound super goofy, but I think of Frodo and the Eye of Sauron. And once he’s gone, the Eye of Sauron is like, Aha, and it pays attention.”
The Movie’s Many Interpretations
Along the lines of this, it has been fascinating to watch the different interpretations of “Weapons” from critics and people online. There are even those who contested that the movie “doesn’t mean anything” at all.
“Here’s the thing that drives me absolutely crazy. People think that everything has to have some meaning, as if the movie is not about a witch stealing kids, it’s actually about something else. Where does that come from?” Cregger protested.
When we said that the movie is playing with some pretty loaded imagery and themes, particularly when it comes to a small town dealing with an immeasurable tragedy, something that we’ve seen time and time again in recent years with the proliferation of gun violence, Cregger begrudgingly acknowledged that there might be something more to “Weapons.”
“Maybe that’s in there, there can be many things in there. A movie doesn’t have to be about one thing,” Cregger said.
We then brought up the idea that the movie “isn’t about anything,” which Cregger also disagreed with.
“It’s about a lot of things and it has a lot of meaning for me. But if I had to go out and explain any of the meaning, that would be a failure of the movie. You know what I mean? I have to let the movie be the movie. I can’t go and be like, Did you catch that?” Cregger said. “I did that on ‘Barbarian’ and I regret it. After ‘Barbarian,’ I went on podcast and I talked about what different things meant. I thought I was clever and I just feel embarrassed about that. I think that for, this movie, and probably for whatever career I have going forwards, it’s better to just let the art be the art and let people have their own relationship with it. I think that’s just a healthier way for me to live.”
At least this approach encourages people to go back and watch for additional details to draw their own conclusions.
“Even now, even in this conversation with you, I’m like, Well, why do I have to open my f–king mouth and complain about people finding meanings? Because I should be allowing people to have whatever conversation they want about the movie. It shouldn’t irk me. I should just shut up. I really shouldn’t be a part of the conversation,” Cregger said.
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The Missing Gladys Chapter and the Upcoming Gladys Movie
At one point in the development of “Weapons,” Aunt Gladys had her very own “chapter” like the other characters in the movie. That was jettisoned because Cregger feared the movie would be too long, but the idea has been resurrected in the wake of the movie’s success. Now Cregger is developing a standalone Gladys movie, built from this section. But we wondered if he was worried that giving her an entire movie would lessen the mystique.
“It’s crossed my mind. But I think that the Gladys story is such an interesting story that I think it’s going to feel very separate and stand on its own two feet, and I don’t think it’s going to diminish ‘Weapons,’” Cregger said about the upcoming project.
And, yes, he is so excited by the response to Aunt Gladys, especially on the cusp of Halloween.
“The thrill of my life to see Amy and what’s been going on with all of this has been so great. I can only hope that there’s a lot of Halloween Gladyses out there,” Cregger said.
David Fincher’s Influence
In the credits of “Weapons,” there’s a special thank you to David Fincher, the director of “Seven,” “Zodiac” and the upcoming “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” follow-up. It turns out that Fincher assisted Cregger in the editing of “Weapons,” which we joked was turning Cregger into the insane perfectionist that Fincher is known for being.
“He really helped me to open my mind about the post process. I had assumed that, you know, what you get is what you get, and that you’ve got to make the most of what you get. And he showed me that you don’t have to settle for anything. Everything can always be better,” Cregger said. “And you can do all kinds of things in post that you didn’t consider and you can keep elevating and elevating and elevating. It was tremendously helpful. He is one of my absolute top favorite dudes of all time. And to be able to get him to watch the movie was a total dream come true. But let alone give me his time and help me make it better. It was a dream come true.”
But, beyond all his post-production tips, was there a particularly great Fincher note that he incorporated into the final version of “Weapons?”
“It was his idea to give Gladys the orthopedic squeaky shoes,” Cregger said.
He then gave another example: “When Julia gets out of the car and she’s walking to her front door, and we’re profile tracking her and she looks at this couple at the end of the block and we rack focus. I was just keeping the audio as it was. And he was like, ‘Why don’t you rack focus with the audio too?’ When we rack to the people at the end of the block, you’re now hearing the cicadas at the end of the block. Then when you rack back to her, now we’re hearing the foreground cicadas, and it has the effect of just completely immersing you in that shot. It’s so subtle and it’s so effective, and I am not smart enough to think of something like that.”
That George Harrison Song
“Weapons” memorably opens with a montage of the kids leaving their respective houses, arms outstretched, disappearing into the darkness. What makes the moment even more haunting is the expert usage of George Harrison’s “Beware of Darkness,” from his beloved 1970 triple album “All Things Must Pass.”
We asked how he got the song and he said, succinctly, “I paid a stupid amount of money for it. There’s no other way. He’s a Beatle.”
Money well spent.
What’s Next
Cregger is already in production on his next film, an adaptation of the “Resident Evil” video game series for Sony. (It will arrive in theaters in September 2026.) We had heard that the movie was going to be shot in first-person, like a video game, which Cregger denied.
“No. It’s a hyper-subjective movie, is how I like to think of it. But it’s not in the first person. I think it’s narratively different from my other stuff, because it follows one character from point A to point B, almost in real time,” Cregger said. “Think about ‘1917’ where you’re following one person on a journey. Except this is not done in oner, it’s more conventionally covered.”
He continued: “With ‘Resident Evil,’ I had the whole movie in my head, all at once. It’s a very simple story. I’m not a genius in that way. But it was just like, Yeah, this guy got to get from here to there. He’s got to do this job. I understand that and I could just get him deeper and deeper into hell as he goes. That’s a movie, and then I could start writing.”
After “Resident Evil,” he’s got a sci-fi idea that he wants to make. But that’s all he’d say. Always keeping the mystery alive.
