Silence of the lands

Ssh! Don’t make any noise. John Krasinski’s sequel to his post-apocalyptic smash A Quiet Place is finally hitting cinemas, promising a deeper dive into its uniquely silent world. Total Film talks (quietly) to Part II’s team to find out more.

- JAMES MOTTRAM

March 8, 2020. A Quiet Place Part II – the sequel to John Krasinski’s surprise smash-hit sci-fi/horror – is enjoying its world premiere at New York’s Lincoln Centre. With the film just 12 days away from its worldwide release, Krasinski and his wife and leading lady, Emily Blunt are all smiles on the red carpet. And so they should be. Reviews are embargoed but early reactions are out. “I have a stomachache now from how tense this movie is,” tweets one user. Whisper it quietly… but this is going to be another monster hit.

Four days later, AQPPII joins 007 movies No Time To Die as the first movie postponements of the Covid-19 era, shifted by studio backers Paramount to September 2020. “I’m going to wait to release the film until we can all see it together,” Krasinski says in an upbeat statement (shortly before becoming the savior of our collective sanity with his lockdown spread-a-little-happiness YouTube show Some Good News).

Over a year and several release-date bumps later, Krasinski’s wish may finally be coming true: with cinemas re-opening in America, Britain, and elsewhere, the chance to sit together and be scared witless looks a very real possibility. And boy, do we need it. Returning audiences to the post-apocalyptic world of A Quiet Place, it’ll be one of the first major movies out the gate since the film industry saw its entire business model chewed up and spat out. So no pressure then…

What a difference three years makes. In 2018,