With lower budgets than the average Hollywood fare, A24 has gotten in the habit of delivering commercially viable films with high entertainment value. With the directorial debut of Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou, in the horror feature, Talk to Me, the company was able to do it again. On a reported budget of $4.5 million, the film became 2023’s summer smash horror film, earning an impressive $92 million at the box office. Unsurprisingly, the film was summoned for a sequel at A24 with Danny declaring, “There’s scenes for a sequel, yeah.” In anticipation of what could be the start of a new horror franchise, the film’s star, Sophie Wilde, has offered an update regarding a potential return to Talk to Me 2, after delivering one of the best horror performances ever.
The ending of Talk to Me came across as somewhat ambiguous. Wilde‘s Mia finds herself in part of the spirit world, and soon appears at another house party, after being summoned by another group of unsuspecting teens using the embalmed hand. This leaves open the possibility of Wilde‘s return in some capacity. Speaking with Total Film, Wilde offered a somewhat disappointing update regarding her involvement but stated her interest in playing a part in the production of the sequel. She said:
“I don’t know. I feel like it’s still a bit hush hush because I mean, the boys [filmmakers Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou], they’re such workaholics. I know they’re focusing on a bunch of other projects that they’re doing at the moment. So I don’t know, it’s all up in the air. But I said to them, I was like, “I’m gonna get actual FOMO if I’m not in this film, so can I just come on set and be like a boom operator? I will be an assistant director, I just want to be involved.”
The success of Talk to Me is easily quantifiable with critical acclaim and terrific box office returns evident for A24. Some of the praise the horror feature received came from renowned names, with The Lord of the Rings director, Peter Jackson, describing the feature as “relentlessly scary and disturbing – in the best possible way.” The film was met with strong reviews, with Collider‘s Chase Hutchison writing:
“Sometimes, horror can be downright nasty. This doesn’t just refer to the gore, but the way it is all used. In Talk To Me , the feature debut from YouTubers turned directors Danny and Michael Philippou, possession becomes a way by which to pulverize their characters. It is these moments that are the highlights of the experience in all their stomach-churning viscera. As they get more outrageous, it comes at the audience with brutal and bloody cinematic madness that makes the most of the chaos that unfolds before you.”
There Is Plenty of Lore to Explore in a ‘Talk to Me’ Sequel
As of this moment, it’s not entirely clear what a second summoning will look like, with the film’s directors previously revealing that they already have an entire prequel filmed that focuses on brothers Cole (Ari McCarthy) and Duckett (Sunny Johnson). A24, on the other hand, is looking ahead already, confirming in a previous social media post that Talk to Me 2 would get a theatrical release. Speaking in an interview with Collider‘s own Perri Nemiroff, Danny Philippou told Nemiroff there was sufficient information to channel into potential sequels, saying:
“Even down to the writing on the hand. There’s a lore and a story and a deep mythology. Even the spirits that are connecting with every character’s emotions. Everything’s really thought out and put through a mythology, hopefully, we can expand on if we were able to do a sequel. But yeah, we wanted the characters to be out of their depths. We didn’t explore it that much, so we just sort of hinted at it with the characters. But yes, everything’s ironed out and there’s a whole big bible. It’s called the mythology bible. So we’ve got that.”
With the Philippou brothers currently working on their Street Fighter movie, it may be a while before they return to the Talk to Me series. While we wait for more information on Talk to Me 2, you can watch the original horror movie on Netflix.
via Collider