Universal Pictures is moving Jordan Peele’s horror-thriller “Us” back a week to March 22 to build more buzz following its selection as the opening title of the South by Southwest Film Festival.
“Us,” which follows a family confronted by a group of doppelgängers, stars Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, and Elisabeth Moss. Nyong’o and Duke play a couple who are taking their children (Shahadi Wright Joseph, Evan Alex) to their beach house along the Northern California coastline. Nyong’o’s character is haunted by an unexplainable and unresolved trauma from her past. In a trailer released on Christmas Day, four figures appeared at the foot of a driveway with the tagline “We are our own worst enemy.”
“Us” is the first project under Peele’s first-look deal with Universal Pictures, which he signed with his Monkeypaw Productions last year after his “Get Out” grossed a massive $255 million worldwide, scored an Academy Award nomination for best picture, and won the best original screenplay Oscar for Peele.
Peele directed “Us” from his own script and produced alongside Sean McKittrick, Jason Blum, and Monkeypaw’s Ian Cooper. The film is the company’s first solo production venture.
Four other titles have dated for March 22: Sony’s World War II drama “Greyhound,” starring Tom Hanks; Annapurna’s comedy-drama “Where’d You Go, Bernadette?,” starring Cate Blanchett; Aviron’s crime drama “The Informer,” starring Joel Kinnaman; and Lionsgate’s romancer “Five Five Apart,” starring Haley Lu Richardson.
Paramount was able to build buzz last year when “A Quiet Place” opened SXSW on March 9, 2018, and moved into wide release four weeks later.