Barbarian director's new Weapons movie gets Fortnite tie-in in "bold" decision to promote its story about children going missing by introducing them to ganks

Weapons, the upcoming horror film from Zach Cregger, the director behind particularly vile 2022 release Barbarian, just got an inexplicable Fortnite tie-in.

In a Variety report, Nic Hill, co-founder of the creative agency behind the promotional event, Sawhorse, decides that "This bold collaboration is a showcase of how studios like Warner Bros. are innovating beyond traditional trailers."

Yes, I think I would also use the word "bold" – if its gruesome trailer and early audience reactions are anything to go by, Weapons (starring Wolf Man's Julia Garner) is the kind of film that triggers lung-popping screams, following a town's descent into… chronic stress? Satanic possession? after a teacher's entire third-grade class runs away in the night.

Now that I'm really considering it, though: what better way to commemorate the mystery and fear of the characters in Weapons than by introducing them to Fortnite ganks made up of fourth-graders?

The 2:17 AM – "an eerie timestamp," says Sawhorse – event began today at 9 am PT, or 12 pm ET, and it apparently joins the "unsettling tension of the film with gameplay" in four different Fortnite modes. Players will be able to accrue clues to the film's central question – where are the children? – and finish challenges in what appear to be suburban environments that would be freaky if they weren't depicted in the video game Fortnite.

In any case, while participating in the event, I hope you don't get sucked into dusk and become afflicted with chronic stress/Satanic possession/impenetrably deep sadness from not achieving number-one Victory Royale.

If you do, try to hold on until Weapons releases in theaters on August 8. You can peruse our guide to the other best upcoming horror movies to calm your nerves in the meantime.