It’s Super Bowl Sunday, when Hollywood traditionally drops several high-profile trailers for upcoming major films and TV series. This year, the marketing frenzy kicks off with the first trailer for Jordan Peele’s forthcoming horror feature, Nope , which dropped unexpectedly at 3 AM Eastern this morning. We at Ars Technica are totally on board for this film.
Our confidence is pretty well-placed. Peele has cemented his status as the current master of smart, thought-provoking horror, starting with Get Out , his surprise box office hit that earned more than $250 million and snagged Peele an Oscar for best original screenplay—the first time the award has gone to a black recipient. Move out is a subtle exploration of racial tensions that quietly builds to reveal its horrifying premise and inevitably bloody conclusion. In his 2019 follow-up, Us , the theme wasn’t so much racial tension—it was exploring, in Peele’s words , the myriad ways in which “we are our own worst enemies. ”
Peele also co-wrote, with director Nia DaCosta, last year’s electrifying sequel (of sorts), Candyman , which transformed the singular 1990s slasher known as Candyman into an ageless malevolence whose curse reverberates through time. Then there’s Peele’s reboot of The Twilight Zone and the various films showcased in the anthology series Welcome to the Blumhouse , plus the myriad other projects he’s had a hand in with Blumhouse Productions.