Paramount is planning to expand the cinematic universe of John Krasinski's A Quiet Place with a third film in the franchise. Mud director Jeff Nichols has been tapped to helm the project based on an idea from Krasinski.
Directed and co-written by Krasinski, A Quiet Place followed Lee and Evelyn Abbot as they attempted to protect and raise their children in a world overrun by extraterrestrial monsters. While the creatures may be blind, their acute sense of hearing requires survivors to remain absolutely silent in order to avoid being consumed. With the exception of an elderly man whom the family encounters in the woods, the film focused exclusively on the Abbott family for its entirety.
Deadline reports the third Quiet Place film is expected to expand on the universe established in the original film as opposed to continuing the storyline of its two predecessors. In addition to directing the third film, Nichols will write the screenplay and Krasinski will return to produce alongside Allyson Seeger through his Sunday Night Productions. Seger is also on board as an executive producer while Michael Bay, Andrew Form, and Brad Fuller will produce through Platinum Dunes. Paramount has slated the third Quiet Place film for release in 2022.
Krasinki returned to direct and write A Quiet Place Part II on his own with Emily Blunt reprising her role as Evelyn. However, the sequel was one of the first films to be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic when Paramount pushed its release date back from March 2020 to September of the same following year. As the pandemic worsened in the ensuing months, particularly in the United States, the studio ultimately opted to release the film in April 2021 instead.
While the Quiet Place film series may not seem like to most likely candidate for a cinematic universe in the vein of Marvel Studios' MCU, it's not necessarily surprising to see Paramount make an attempt. After all, the original film earned an impressive $340.9 million worldwide against a budget of approximately $17 million.
Of course, trying to emulate the success of Marvel Studios hasn't paid off for every studio, particularly when it comes to Universal Pictures' short-lived Dark Universe. While the studio hoped to launch a new franchise based on its line of classic monsters with Tom Cruise's The Mummy, the dismal box office returns of the film led to the Dark Universe being scrapped in favor of smaller, more filmmaker-oriented horror projects.
A Quiet Place Part II is scheduled to be released in theaters on April 23, 2021.
Source: Deadline