A Quiet Place, the horror hit directed by John Krasinski, is getting a sequel. Paramount, the studio that backed the blockbuster, announced the news Wednesday at CinemaCon.
“If you told me five years ago that an almost silent film starring the very funny guy Jim from The Office would have been a hit at Paramount, I would have said, Well, I should go work at Paramount,” studio chief Jim Gianopulos told the audience, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
As T.H.R notes, this horror movie has become the rare, unfettered hit for the plagued studio, which has steadily been losing money thanks to domestic bombs like Monster Trucks and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows—leading Hollywood executives just two years ago to deem Paramount nearly “unsalvageable”.
A Quiet Place, meanwhile, has made $213 million at the worldwide box office so far, a wild sum compared to its $17 million budget. As this was only Krasinskis third film as a director, and his first horror film in general (hes admitted hes no expert in the genre, unlike other debut horror filmmakers like Jordan Peele), it could have easily been another Paramount bomb. Instead, Krasinski surprised audiences with a tense, high-concept thriller that compelled horror fans and critics alike.
A sequel seems like an obvious and well-warranted next move, especially since screenwriters Bryan Woods and Scott Beck have always said they are not only open to the idea, but already have potential sequel concepts in mind.
“There are so many discarded set pieces, too, just hiding out on Word documents on our computer,” Beck recently told Fandango. “So, yeah, there are certainly so many stories you could tell. Its just really, at the end of the day, who are the characters in this and what does this situation mean to that dynamic?”
Without spoiling too much, the film does conclude with the sort of ending that warrants a sequel. The plot also never dives into the origin of the gross, alien-esque monsters that have invaded this world, leaving plenty of room for the writers and Krasinski to broaden the Quiet Place universe. As Beck and Woods have explained, the film was at one point a potential entry inJ.J. AbramssCloverfield series, a cinematic experiment hobbled by the recent release of the truly disappointingCloverfield Paradox. Since A Quiet Place is firmly in its own lane, its sequel could go in any number of exciting directions.
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Vanessa Kirby, Actress
This has been a busy year for Kirby. Fresh from finishing Uncle Vanya alongside friend and Downtown Abbey–star Jessica Brown-Findlay, she is now in New York for her Broadway debut, reprising her role as Stella opposite Gillian Andersons Blanche in their fêted production of A Streetcar Named Desire. But it took her time and training to get where she is. She turned down a role at drama school for a contract with Boltons renowned Octagon Theatre, hoping to learn on the job. Performing in a whole season of classic plays—Ibsen, Miller, Shakespeare—she certainly had to.Photo: By Karwai Tang/Getty Images.
David Moorst, Actor
Before Moorst went to drama school, he had never seen a play. But he took to the theater so naturally that he was plucked out early by director Edward Hall, and in 2015 took on the part of Liam, the troubled 17-year-old in Violence and Son, the Royal Courts lauded drama about sexual consent. Not only did he win the Evening Standard Emerging Talent Award for the role, he was also personally congratulated by Ian McKellen and Vanessa Redgrave.Photo: By Jeff Spicer/Getty Images.
Noma Dumezweni, Actress
The Internet erupted when it was announced Dumezweni will be playing Hermione Granger in the upcoming West End play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, with J.K. Rowling tweeting: “Rowling loves black Hermione.” And last year the Olivier Award–winning actress and director attracted more attention when, just 10 days before opening night, she replaced Kim Cattrall in the Royal Courts Linda, and performed parts of the three-hour monologue with script in handPhoto: By Luca Teuchmann/Getty Images.
Zoe Lafferty, Director
Lafferty is interested in big themes: conflict, political corruption, the violation of human rights. She began her career with the Palestinian Freedom Theatre, where she was based in a refugee camp, and since then her work has taken her from Afghanistan to Yemen, Lebanon to Haiti. In 2011, circumnavigating the ban on journalists, she crossed into Syria, and her resulting play, The Fear of Breathing, is based entirely on her interviews with protesters, soldiers, activists, and citizens. “I believe it is the responsibility of artists to be at the center of driving change, debate, and innovation,” she says. “Theater has the ability to challenge governments, propaganda and censorship.”Photo: Courtesy of Teemu Silván.
Phoebe Fox, Actress
It took Fox three attempts to get into RADA, and in the interim she took a job washing hair in a beauty salon. Her patience paid off. This month alone she can be seen in Eye in the Sky alongside Helen Mirren and the late Alan Rickman, and The Hollow Crown with Benedict Cumberbatch, Judi Dench, and Hugh Bonneville. But it was for her performance as the 17-year-old Catherine in Ivo Van Hoves production of A View from the Bridge that she shot to fame, startling audiences in Broadway and the West End alike with her uncomfortably visceral merging of innocence and sexuality.Photo: By James Shaw/REX/Shutterstock.
Joe Robertson and Joe Murphy, Playwrights
The Good Chance Theatre has been in the headlines a lot recently. From its position at the heart of the “Jungle”—one of Europes most notorious refugee camps—the temporary theater, established by young playwrights Robertson and Murphy, hosted a steady stream of prominent theater companies and actors, from Jude Law to Benedict Cumberbatch. When the French authorities recently cleared the camp, Good Chance was forced to dismantle its dome. But it has vowed to continue its work. “We are determined to prove that theatre has an active role in this world,” say its founders.Photo: Courtesy of Sarah Lee.
Sarah Beaton, Designer
Graduating with top marks from the Central School of Speech & Drama, in 2011, Beaton was awarded the Linbury Prize for stage design in the same year. Already, aged just 27, her work has been exhibited at the National Theatre, World Stage Design, and the Victoria & Albert Museum. “I have an inquisitive mind,” she says. “I am interested in my designs creating sensation above realism and for that to challenge an audience.”Photo: Courtesy of Amit and Naroop.PreviousNext
Vanessa Kirby, Actress
This has been a busy year for Kirby. Fresh from finishing Uncle Vanya alongside friend and Downtown Abbey–star Jessica Brown-Findlay, she is now in New York for her Broadway debut, reprising her role as Stella opposite Gillian Andersons Blanche in their fêted production of A Streetcar Named Desire. But it took her time and training to get where she is. She turned down a role at drama school for a contract with Boltons renowned Octagon Theatre, hoping to learn on the job. Performing in a whole season of classic plays—Ibsen, Miller, Shakespeare—she certainly had to.By Karwai Tang/Getty Images.
David Moorst, Actor
Before Moorst went to drama school, he had never seen a play. But he took to the theater so naturally that he was plucked out early by director Edward Hall, and in 2015 took on the part of Liam, the troubled 17-year-old in Violence and Son, the Royal Courts lauded drama about sexual consent. Not only did he win the Evening Standard Emerging Talent Award for the role, he was also personally congratulated by Ian McKellen and Vanessa Redgrave.By Jeff Spicer/Getty Images.
Noma Dumezweni, Actress
The Internet erupted when it was announced Dumezweni will be playing Hermione Granger in the upcoming West End play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, with J.K. Rowling tweeting: “Rowling loves black Hermione.” And last year the Olivier Award–winning actress and director attracted more attention when, just 10 days before opening night, she replaced Kim Cattrall in the Royal Courts Linda, and performed parts of the three-hour monologue with script in handBy Luca Teuchmann/Getty Images.
Zoe Lafferty, Director
Lafferty is interested in big themes: conflict, political corruption, the violation of human rights. She began her career with the Palestinian Freedom Theatre, where she was based in a refugee camp, and since then her work has taken her from Afghanistan to Yemen, Lebanon to Haiti. In 2011, circumnavigating the ban on journalists, she crossed into Syria, and her resulting play, The Fear of Breathing, is based entirely on her interviews with protesters, soldiers, activists, and citizens. “I believe it is the responsibility of artists to be at the center of driving change, debate, and innovation,” she says. “Theater has the ability to challenge governments, propaganda and censorship.”Courtesy of Teemu Silván.
Gemma Chan, Actress
Oxford graduate Chan funded her way through drama school by modelling part-time. Theres not much she cant do. Best known for her versatility on-screen—she played a robot in Humans and a dominatrix in Secret Diary of a Call Girl—this year sees a spate of film releases, including a role in Martin Amiss London Fields alongside Cara Delevingne. But Chan is equally comfortable onstage, recently appearing in Pinters The Homecoming and Yellow Face, a sharp satire about racial identity.By Ian Gavan/Getty Images.
Johnny Flynn, Actor
When Flynn was 11, he bought a Bob Dylan record and vowed to become a musician. Now fronting the folk band Johnny Flynn & the Sussex Wit, he has released three albums, and has still found the time to establish himself as a successful stage actor. Starring in Jez Butterworths smash-hit Jerusalem, the sweet-voiced singer was recently unrecognizable in Martin McDonaghs savagely funny Hangmen, in which he played a murderously charming psychopath.By Sam Deitch/BFAnyc.com/REX/Shutterstock.
Denise Gough, Actress
“I get frustrated when untrained people who havent earned their stripes take on a phenomenal role and wonder why it doesnt work,” says Gough, whose rise to fame as the addict Emma in People, Places and Things might have been meteoric but is the result of a decade's work in the theater playing complex, challenging females. A vocal supporter of the E.R.A. (Equal Representation for Actresses) campaign, Gough, who is Irish, is also frustrated by the conversation that is being had about equality onstage. A great female role, she stresses, is not necessarily a strong female role: “Women arent always strong, we are human,” she says. “I want to play a human being who happens to be a woman.”By David M. Benett/Getty Images.
James Graham, Playwright
Politics is the dominant theme of Grahams theater. In 2012, he attracted attention with This House, a look at the power struggles in Parliament during the 70s, and his play The Vote was aired live on TV during the final 90 minutes of the 2015 election. His latest project, Privacy, is set to open this July at New Yorks Public Theater. Starring Daniel Radcliffe as a writer—based loosely on Graham himself—it was inspired by Edward Snowdens revelations about government surveillance.Courtesy of Steve Tanner/stevetanner.co.uk.
Charlene James, Playwright
When James was at drama school, she could not find enough roles for young black actresses. So she had to write her own. Today, she still works out of necessity, tackling issues she believes to be misunderstood, misrepresented or just ignored. Her latest play, the award-winning Cuttin It, confronts FGM. “Its all about education, and bringing it out there,” she says. “Once people engage, it becomes more political.”Courtesy of Julia Underwood.
Harry Blake, Composer
“I love using music to tell stories,” says Blake, composer and recently appointed associate of the Royal Academy of Music, who tends to bring his own take on sound to the theater. Known for his techno remixes of classic operas and his ambient string and synth soundscapes, his influences—from Kendrick Lamar to Maurice Ravel—are diverse. Currently, he is working on a hip-hop score for I Cant Breathe, an exploration of racism and police brutality, which will be performed at Sadlers Wells.Courtesy of Cameron Slater.
Phoebe Fox, Actress
It took Fox three attempts to get into RADA, and in the interim she took a job washing hair in a beauty salon. Her patience paid off. This month alone she can be seen in Eye in the Sky alongside Helen Mirren and the late Alan Rickman, and The Hollow Crown with Benedict Cumberbatch, Judi Dench, and Hugh Bonneville. But it was for her performance as the 17-year-old Catherine in Ivo Van Hoves production of A View from the Bridge that she shot to fame, startling audiences in Broadway and the West End alike with her uncomfortably visceral merging of innocence and sexuality.By James Shaw/REX/Shutterstock.
Joe Robertson and Joe Murphy, Playwrights
The Good Chance Theatre has been in the headlines a lot recently. From its position at the heart of the “Jungle”—one of Europes most notorious refugee camps—the temporary theater, established by young playwrights Robertson and Murphy, hosted a steady stream of prominent theater companies and actors, from Jude Law to Benedict Cumberbatch. When the French authorities recently cleared the camp, Good Chance was forced to dismantle its dome. But it has vowed to continue its work. “We are determined to prove that theatre has an active role in this world,” say its founders.Courtesy of Sarah Lee.
Sarah Beaton, Designer
Graduating with top marks from the Central School of Speech & Drama, in 2011, Beaton was awarded the Linbury Prize for stage design in the same year. Already, aged just 27, her work has been exhibited at the National Theatre, World Stage Design, and the Victoria & Albert Museum. “I have an inquisitive mind,” she says. “I am interested in my designs creating sensation above realism and for that to challenge an audience.”Courtesy of Amit and Naroop.
Yohana DestaYohana Desta is a Hollywood writer for VanityFair.com.
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