Sixteen years passed from the time Eli Roth made a slasher faux trailer called Thanksgiving for the Robert Rodriguez / Quentin Tarantino double feature Grindhouse to the day when a feature version of Thanksgiving (read our review HERE) finally made its way into theatres – and the fact that we’re being rewarded for our patience with not just that movie, but also a sequel that’s expected to reach theatres sometime in 2025 is truly something to be thankful about. The sequel was announced soon after the first film reached theatres, and during a new interview with IndieWire, Roth revealed that the script for Thanksgiving 2 is complete and filming starts soon!
Roth had been wanting to make a feature version of Thanksgiving ever since he made the faux trailer, and even wrote the screenplay with Jeff Rendell (who played the homicidal pilgrim in the trailer) a dozen years ago. The feature finally happened thanks to Spyglass Media stepping in to provide the funding. Roth jumped at the chance to get the movie made, even though it meant having Deadpool‘s Tim Miller take over as director on the reshoots for his video game adaptation Borderlands.
Roth and Rendell produced the film with Roger Birnbaum. Spyglass chairman and CEO Gary Barber and president of production Peter Oillataguerre serve as executive producers alongside Kate Harrison and Greg Denny of Cream Productions Inc. Oillataguerre and SVP Production & Development Chris Stone oversaw the project for Spyglass while Caellum Allan and Kelseigh Coombs oversaw for TriStar.
If you’ve watched the original Thanksgiving trailer, you have a good idea of what this slasher movie is about, but here’s the synopsis: After a Black Friday riot ends in tragedy, a mysterious Thanksgiving-inspired killer terrorizes Plymouth, Massachusetts – the birthplace of the infamous holiday.
The film starred Nell Verlaque (Big Shot), Rick Hoffman (Hostel), Patrick Dempsey (Grey’s Anatomy), Addison Rae (He’s All That), Jalen Thomas Brooks (Walker), Milo Manheim (Z-O-M-B-I-E-S), Gina Gershon (Bound), comedian Tim Dillon (who was in a TV show called Thanksgiving), Gabriel Davenport (Mistletoe Time Machine), Tomaso Sanelli (Titans), and Jenna Warren (The Young Arsonists).
Speaking with IndieWire, Roth confirmed that Thanksgiving 2 is currently in “soft prep” and aiming for a production start in late March. Several actors will be returning for the sequel (we’ve previously heard that Verlaque, Hoffman, and Rae are expected to come back), the script has been written, and the movie will have a budget in the same range as its predecessor’s budget. Roth said, “We’re upping the ante but we are not going to do it with more money. That keeps it tight and lean and mean and forces us to make decisions. There’s a lot of setting up that we did in the first one that we don’t have to deal with now. It can just be all pay-off. … I’ve come up with stuff that is going to be a challenge. And I want it to be a challenge to pull off. Because if I’ve come up with the stuff that I think will make the best kills, then I’m going to do it like I’m never going to make another movie again.” He also said he intends to deliver an epic cat-and-mouse chase that he compared to a standout sequence in the first movie as well as Anthony Waller’s film Mute Witness.
Are you glad to hear that Thanksgiving 2 is on track, the script is finished, and filming will begin in a few months? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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