The Boogeyman, the newest feature film based on a Stephen King story, is now playing in theaters. While facing stiff competition from big-budget studio movies likeThe Little Mermaid,Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, andTransformers: Rise of the Beasts, the horror film has held its own, pulling in close to $40 million and counting at the box office. Whether the numbers are enough to result in a sequel getting ordered remains to be seen.
For directorRob Savage, he’s all set to go with an idea in mind ifThe Boogeyman 2ends up coming to fruition. Speaking about the film in an interview withHorror Geek Life, Savage addressed the potentiality of a sequel happening. He said that not only is there a great idea for a follow-up film, but 20th Century execs are said to be “excited” about it as well. Whether that gets greenlit depends upon the final numbers forThe Boogeymanat the box office, as Savage explains:
“We have the best idea for a sequel, and we’ll see if the numbers make sense and if we get to do it. But me and Mark Heyman, who wrote the movie, have been playing with this idea. We took it to the studio, and the studio’s excited about it. It’s playing in a whole different kind of horror space.”
Savage then teases how this idea could potentially serve as a standalone film with its connections toThe Boogeymanremoved. With that said, he much prefers for this project to remain connected toThe Boogeyman, as it would be able to deepen that story’s mythology in a much more “special” way.
“It connects to this movie, and it deepens the mythology of this movie. But it’s playing in a horror space that I haven’t seen for a long time. I think it’s a really great, terrifying sequel that I’d be excited to direct, even if it weren’t in theBoogeymanuniverse. But its connection to this movie makes it special. So hopefully, we get to do that — fingers crossed. But we’ve got something exciting if that does happen.”
Related:Why The Boogeyman Is the Perfect PG-13 Horror Film
The Boogeyman Pushes the Boundaries of Its PG-13 Rating
The Boogeymanhas also been surprising some filmgoers with certain scenes that they were able to get away with, despite the PG-13 rating. In the HGL interview, Savage is asked about a shocking moment near the start of the film along with what happens at the climax of the video game sequence. He says he was surprised that those scenes didn’t need to be snipped to maintain the PG-13 rating, pleasantly surprised that the MPAA didn’t have a word to say about them.
“Those were the two things that I thought we would never, ever get past the MPAA. They didn’t have an issue with either, weirdly.”
The Boogeyman, based on the Stephen King short story, was written by Scott Beck, Bryan Woods, and Mark Heyman. The film stars Sophie Thatcher, Chris Messina, Vivien Lyra Blair, and David Dastmalchian. It is now playing in theaters.
