After the rapturous response that 2017’s Get Out received from audiences, critics and award-giving bodies alike, director Jordan Peele’s sophomore feature Us surely had no trouble earning the attention of some major festivals, but as it turns out, South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, was the one to snag the world premiere of this highly anticipated horror film.
The announcement came earlier today that SXSW will screen the feature on March 8th as the festival’s opening night movie. Festival director Janet Pierson has also issued a statement expressing her delight at the news.
“We are crazy excited to world premiere the most anticipated film of 2019 from the creative powerhouse the brought us Get Out,” Pierson said. “We honestly couldn’t imagine a more perfect film to kick off the 2019 SXSW Film Festival.”
Peele’s Get Out has set the bar high for his next feature, which is having to follow up an Oscar-winning picture that earned the respect of viewers and organizations that normally wouldn’t give horror movies a second glance.
That being said, Us may not be courting the same crowds, with Peele previously claiming that for his next work, he “wanted to do something that was more firmly in the horror genre,” while still holding onto his love of films that are “twisted but fun.”
Moreover, the director has explicitly stated that “unlike Get Out, Us is not about race. It is instead about something that I feel has become an undeniable truth. And that is the simple fact that we are our own worst enemies.” In Us, this theme will take quite literal form, as the Wilson family come under attack from their own doppelgängers.
We’ll find out if this story can match the cultural impact of Peele’s last film when Us hits theaters on March 15th, 2019, though not before its SXSW premiere on March 8th.