Adam Wingard’s well-received 2014 thriller “The Guest,” which helped turn a post-Downton Dan Stevens and “It Follows” actress Maika Monroe into stars, has garnered a cult following in the years since.
In the years since there’s been talk of a potential follow-up, but in a recent interview writer Simon Barrett told THR that another film isn’t in the works even as financially the possibility makes total sense for investors.
Instead, they’re working on a follow-up in a different form altogether from another movie and it’s something they’re toying with at the moment:
“It’s very funny how everyone feels very strongly that a Guest sequel would be a viable financial model for some financier. If that financier emerges, we’d definitely be willing to talk to them, but I have to admit that we’d probably just try to get them to give us their money for something else.
At this point, I think a ‘Guest’ sequel could only disappoint. To a certain point, you have an obligation to respect the fandom that a film like ‘The Guest’ has, which is this unique cult fandom.
So we are trying to come up with a way to deliver The Guest 2 that doesn’t disappoint people. It wouldn’t be a feature film, a comic book, or anything like that. It would be something different. So we’re trying to work on something different right now.”
Barrett says the film held very close to his and Wingard’s vision, helped by a cost-effective $5 million budget. Though a box-office disappointment with a gross of just $2.7 million worldwide, the movie has been a hit on streaming platforms.