Paramount has pushed the release of its first A Quiet Place spinoff by six months. Originally slated for a September 22, 2023 debut, the film, titled A Quiet Place: Day One, will now arrive in theaters on March 8 2024. Pig director Michael Sarnoski has been tapped to helm the project.
The film is based on an original idea by the director of the first two films, John Krasinski. Day One is produced by Michael Bay, Andrew Form, Brad Fuller and Krasinski, with Allyson Seeger exec producing. Sarnoski made a splashy feature debut with Pig, one of the best-reviewed films of 2021, and it’ll be interesting to see him immediately jump into franchise waters so early in his career.
But this is what Ridley Scott once said is the ideal career path for young Hollywood filmmakers. In a 2017 Vulture interview, Scott said that it is “stupid” to hire directors with only one low-budget feature under their belt and give them a $180 million budget. “Grow into it, little by little. Start low-budget, get a little bit bigger, maybe after $20 million, you can go to $80. But don’t suddenly go to $160,” he said.
One would assume that for Sarnoski, A Quiet Place: Day One is the all-important mid-budget stepping stone to something bigger. He’s also writing the picture, which is expected to flesh out a planned universe of A Quiet Place films for Paramount. This is Hollywood machinery working at its most efficient; if you recall, Krasinski swore that he wouldn’t return after the first film became the horror hit of 2018.
The spinoff was originally supposed to be directed by indie darling Jeff Nichols, whose previous attempt at genre filmmaking, the underrated science-fiction film Midnight Special, bombed at the box office. Nichols departed the project in October 2021.
The first A Quiet Place, about a family’s quest for survival in the immediate aftermath of an alien invasion, became a runaway success. It grossed nearly $350 million worldwide against a modest $17 million budget. A sequel was a no-brainer, with or without Krasinski. But the writer-director returned after having cracked the story for the second installment. titled A Quiet Place: Part II, the film infamously screened for the press mere days before the world changed irrevocably because of the pandemic. Paramount wisely held on to it and released it in theaters after a year’s worth of delays in March, 2021. It was an immediate success, with reviews almost as strong as the first film’s, and a worldwide box office haul just under $300 million.
Krasinski announced earlier this year at the ViacomCBS Investor Day that he’s working on a third installment, which is slated for a 2025 release. Before that, he’s expected to finish up the fantasy comedy IF, starring Ryan Reynolds, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Fiona Shaw and Steve Carell. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates, and check out an interview with Krasinski here: