Is Weapons (2025) based on a true story? Explained

Weapons, written and directed by Zach Cregger, was released on August 8, 2025. The horror film stars Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, and Cary Christopher playing the lead roles. The film revolves around a strange occurrence in the town of Maybrook, Pennsylvania, where 17 third-grade children disappear without a trace at exactly 2:17 a.m., leaving behind only one boy, Alex Lilly.

While the film opens with a little girl stating it is a 'true story,' Weapons is entirely fictional and not based on a true event. The story follows multiple perspectives, including those of Alex’s teacher, Justine Gandy, a grieving father, Archer Graff, a local police officer, and other residents of Maybrook.

As panic spreads, these characters uncover connections to dark rituals and supernatural forces linked to Alex’s reclusive great-aunt, Gladys. The film explores themes of grief, fear, and community trauma.

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Weapons: A fictional story with emotional roots

Despite the film’s opening line, delivered by a child, that Weapons is a 'true story,' the plot is entirely fictional. The disappearance of 17 children, the supernatural elements, and the witchcraft are all products of director Zach Cregger’s imagination. There is no evidence or indication that such an event has ever occurred in reality.

However, while the narrative itself is fictional, the emotional foundation of the story draws heavily from Cregger’s personal experiences. In a July 2025 episode of The Next Best Picture podcast, Cregger discussed how the film was shaped by his grief following the sudden death of someone very close to him. Writing Weapons became a way for him to process feelings of loss and reflect on the impact such a tragedy has on a community. As he explained:

"It’s a personal movie — this movie’s really kind of autobiographical in many ways, you know, someone really close to me died. I was able to write these characters that had the same emotions, you know? About these kids leaving and this community left in the wake of that."

To further enhance the film’s eerie atmosphere, Warner Bros. and the filmmakers incorporated a viral campaign that blurred the lines between fiction and reality. They launched a fictional website, MaybrookMissing.com, which looked like a local news site.

The website included fake news stories, eyewitness testimony, and police bulletins concerning the disappearance of the children, bringing an element of reality into the movie's promotional efforts.

This fictional website made some viewers wonder whether the narrative was true. Nevertheless, the campaign was not real, and it was only used to engage the audience further in the movie's universe.

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Zach Cregger's creative vision

Zach Cregger has said that the decision to open the film with a 'true story' claim was deliberate, aimed to create the sense of a campfire story or an urban legend. In an interview with GQ in July 2025, he explained:

"I literally started with the sentence, ‘This is a true story.’ I thought it would be cool to start a movie where a little girl was telling a campfire story. I didn’t even know what story she’s going to tell.”

By doing this, Cregger sought to blur the boundaries of reality and fiction, building a creepy atmosphere that complements the horror aspects in Weapons.

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