As with all super-successful low budget horror movies, A Quiet Place is getting a sequel. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?
It’s the blessing and curse of successful horror movies. The Sequel Part II. So far, the worldwide gross for the surprise hit film is $214 million and $134 million domestically, and that figure is climbing, as positive word-of-mouth has elevated the movie to the #1 box office spot for 3 of the past 4 weeks. And, in a model that has served smaller studios like Blum House and A24 very well, Paramount kept this to a very modest budget of $17 million, so you can understand why Paramount would want to do a sequel. Alex Steadman at Variety has revealed that Jim Gianapolous, the CEO of Paramount has announced that “We’re already working on the sequel to A Quiet Place.” I hope this means that Paramount will more fully engage in making good horror movies, as they were in desperate need of a hit, and this might just be enough to get them looking at more opportunities to make the scary stuff.
There was no indication as to whether John Krasinksi will return to direct or if any of the primary actors will return for the sequel. (To say more would be to spoil things…) There is potential that the story could be followed up, and that more about the Aliens could be revealed. The original movie is an excellent stand-alone piece, and I would hate to see this have diminishing returns as typically befalls a horror franchise. Can you maintain the hold-your-breath tension of the original? The tightrope balance for something like this is that it can’t fall prey to a rinse and repeat, and yet they shouldn’t stray too far from the original concept like Cloverfield did with its “sequels”, or like most of the horror franchises from the 80’s which rubber stamped out generic copies of slasher films. If done right, it could be like 24 Months Later, which was a fairly good extension on the excellent 24 Days Later. Or, they could go another route and follow a completely different family, like The Conjuring to Conjuring II, or Paranormal Activity to Paranormal Activity 2 (both good and successful examples of sequels done right). I think you could explore either route.
If Krasinksi comes back to direct, it would bode well. His instincts in all of his directorial moves were spot on. I would be curious to see how a large city fared where everyone has to be quiet. Exactly how much range do these creatures have, hearing wise? If they reveal where the monsters came from will it enhance or diminish the story? Part of the allure of A Quiet Place was the suggestive mystery of it all. Very little was attempted to explain the creatures, but enough was revealed in the movie that there’s a good skeleton of an idea to build off of.
Since it’s so early, no indication of a release date has been set, but when we find out The Scariest Things will keep you up-to-date!