A Quiet Place screenwriters Bryan Woods and Scott Beck already have a handful of ideas for a sequel to their surprise hit horror film, which unexpectedly grabbed the #1 spot and earned $50 million upon opening this past weekend. Directed by John Krasinski, the film tells the thrilling tale of a humble family desperately trying to survive on a dystopian Earth. The challenge: This post-apocalyptic world is populated by tireless creatures who hunt down humans through a highly evolved sense of hearing. The pared-down film only involves four main actors, one major location, and such a dearth of dialogue it practically qualifies as a silent film (except for all the screaming and slithering, of course). Without spoiling anything, the film is left wide open, setting up an entire world that could potentially be explored in subsequent entries.
The highly original fright-fest revolves around the continually harried Abbott family: Lee Abbot (Krasinski), his wife Evelyn (Emily Blunt), and children Regan (Millicent Simmonds) and Marcus (Noah Jupe). In every scene, the film masterfully uses silence to create either an air of general unease or hair-raising abject terror – nothing in-between. Simmonds, who plays Regan, is also deaf, which adds a whole other layer of menace and meaning to the movie.
Related: A Quiet Place Is Practically Guaranteed A Sequel
As for what a followup film might entail, the screenwriters evidently aren’t hurting for concepts or material. “It’s such a fun world,” Woods tells Fandango in an interview. “There are so many things you could do.” In fact, he wouldn’t rule out telling the story of an entirely different family that happens to be stuck in a similar situation to the Abbotts. After all, those ravenous creatures will need another blood-meal sooner than later. “There are so many discarded set pieces, too, just hiding out on Word documents on our computer,” says Beck. “So, yeah, there are certainly so many stories you could tell. It’s just really, at the end of the day, who are the characters in this and what does this situation mean to that dynamic?”
At this point, A Quiet Place franchise is basically a foregone conclusion. The film has won near-unanimous praise from critics, and is currently considered 97 percent Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. Screen Rant‘s Sandy Schaefer praised the film, saying it absolutely lives up to the various challenges the premise sets for itself, and succeeds in taking audiences on “a compelling and suspenseful journey along the way.” None other than Chris Pratt counts himself among the film’s fervid fanbase, gushing on Instagram that the movie is indeed highly inventive, with generally freaky monsters that left him feeling totally “stoked.”
This is Krasinski’s third directorial effort after Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (2009) and The Hollars (2016), two indie films that received rather lukewarm receptions upon their release. With A Quiet Place, the third time has definitely proven to be a charm for the actor/director. Now, we can all wait with bated breath for A Quieter Place, The Quietest Place, The Quite Quiet Place, and all the obligatory reboots.
More: A Quiet Place’s Monsters & Ending Explained
Key Release Dates
A Quiet Place
Release Date:2018-04-06
