Weapons has some of the best viral marketing I’ve ever seen, but the new horror movie’s director admits he ‘was not a believer at the beginning’

Black and white CCTV footage of a child running with their arms outstretched

(Image credit: Warner Bros.)

Weapons director Zach Cregger has admitted he "was not a believer" when it came to the movie's viral marketing
However, the realistic marketing campaign has gone down well with fans
The new movie is in theaters from August 8

Weapons is the hugely anticipated new movie from Zach Cregger, and while fans may be thoroughly spooked by the marketing they've seen so far, the director has revealed he was nervous at first.

The new horror movie, which arrives in cinemas on August 8, centers around a group of children who simultaneously disappear at 2:17am.

Speaking to TechRadar, Cregger said: "They came to me and they were like, 'we're thinking of doing this'. They had a term for it that I wasn't even aware of, but they're like, 'we're gonna make this website, we're gonna make it seem like it really happened.'

"And I'll be honest, I was like, 'I don't think I like this idea because we're trying to trick people', and then are people gonna get annoyed and they realize it's just a movie and they're gonna be like f*** this movie."

He added: "That was my fear, but they were like just trust us. So I was like, 'OK!', and then sure enough, everybody really responded to it, so they get all the credit, you know, and I, and I love what they did. I love it, but I was not a believer at the beginning, I'll tell you."

The website Cregger is referring to is MaybrookMissing.net, which is set up to look like a real missing person's case. There's teasers for the movie, fake CCTV footage and even a reference to his previous movie Barbarian for eagle-eyed fans.

2025_░_░_06:17AM.mov - YouTube

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Weapons has really gone hard on this marketing technique, which is known as an Alternate Reality Game. Movies such as Cloverfield and District 9 have adopted this approach in the past, setting up websites and hotlines to entice audiences into a story.

In my opinion, they work incredibly well with horrors or mysteries and it really got me hyped to see the movie, so it's a job well done.

This led me to ask about fan theories based on the marketing campaign, as I was sure people have drawn their own conclusions about what to expect from it. Cregger told me: "Oh yeah, I've seen a lot of theories and I don't even really want to comment on them because if I discredit some of them, then it's, I'm giving people ammo for for for spoiling it.

"But the one that I will say that I've seen a lot that I'm always just kind of like, 'wow', is that people say like an alien is involved in this, and I think that's probably my favorite fan theory."

With plenty of intrigue here, you'll have to go and see the movie if you want to unravel the mystery.

Lucy is a long-time movie and television lover who is an approved critic on Rotten Tomatoes. She has written several reviews in her time, starting with a small self-ran blog called Lucy Goes to Hollywood before moving onto bigger websites such as What's on TV and What to Watch, with TechRadar being her most recent venture. Her interests primarily lie within horror and thriller, loving nothing more than a chilling story that keeps her thinking moments after the credits have rolled. Many of these creepy tales can be found on the streaming services she covers regularly.

When she’s not scaring herself half to death with the various shows and movies she watches, she likes to unwind by playing video games on Easy Mode and has no shame in admitting she’s terrible at them. She also quotes The Simpsons religiously and has a Blinky the Fish tattoo, solidifying her position as a complete nerd.

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