Considering its micro budget, and that it’s a festival acquisition, Robert Eggers’ The Witch (read our review) is a monster success.
Yes, to the average moviegoer, $17 million is nothing compared to $285 million that Deadpool has made. But, they are not the same, and shouldn’t be treated as such.
Point is, normally the success of The Witch would immediately warrant a sequel. But in this case, I’m not sure it’s necessary. Thankfully, Eggers agrees.
“I think I’m stealing the words from another director I cannot place, but if I wanted to know what happens after the last shot of the film, I would have made a longer movie,” the filmmaker told EW Radio’s Entertainment Weirdly show, earlier today.
Instead, Eggers has a number of other projects in various stages of development, including a miniseries about Russian “mad monk” Rasputin, a reimagining of F.W. Murnau’s 1922 vampire classic ‘Nosferatu,’ and a medieval epic called The Knight.
“I’ve been working on this medieval knight thing for over a year now,” he said. So, what’s the delay? “It’s one thing to know how to build a goat shed. Building a castle? There’s a lot more parts for me to understand.”
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Eggers is one of the hottest directors on the planet right now and doing a sequel to an independent film would be side-stepping instead of moving forward.
And in regards to The Witch, even if you didn’t like the movie (you will one day) you have to appreciate the craft that went into it. And to know he’s going to put his magic fingers all over Nosferatu is the kind of horror massage we need. Eggers could be the future of horror if he chooses.
With that, here’s Jimmy Champane’s look at The Witch, which is filled with spoilers.
