Considering that Jordan Peele has only directed three feature films, it’s incredible that he has reached such a wild level of success; he can simply announce that a new movie is on the way and a lot of people will take notice. Not only that, but Peele’s movies are apparently seen as valuable enough that they can take on the biggest franchise in the world right now. Because Peele’s next film will be released on Christmas Day 2024, five days after Avatar 3.
The release date of Jordan Peele’s new film is the only thing we know for sure about it at this point. THR confirms the Christmas day release date. We don’t even know with certainty that Peele’s fourth directorial effort will be a horror movie, but considering that’s what the other three have been, it certainly seems likely.
Jordan Peele wowed audiences with Get Out in 2017, a movie that would not become a box office juggernaut but the rare horror movie that received awards recognition. It ultimately won Peele the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. That was followed by Us in 2019, which was an even bigger box office hit, and then Nope in 2022. Nope didn’t do quite as well at the box office as the other two, but considering the level of success of the first films, it only underperformed by comparison.
Universal Pictures previously had the Christmas Day release staked out with part one of the Wicked adaptation, but last week it was announced that Wicked was getting moved up and would be released the day before Thanksgiving instead. At the time, it seemed that the movie was getting out of the way of Avatar 3. Considering just how long Avatar: The Way of Water owned the box office last December, there’s every reason to believe Avatar 3 will do the same, and any movie being released after it, especially only a few days later, could suffer at the box office because of it.
But it seems the real reason Wicked was moved was to make way for Jordan Peele’s new movie. And there’s certainly reason to believe that a movie from Peele would have a stronger chance than other films against Avatar 3. It will almost certainly be the definition of counter-programming. The potential movie audience that is not excited by the massive budget CGI spectacle franchise of Avatar 3 might be exactly the audience looking for something like what we now think of as a Jordan Peele movie, a character-driven horror movie with a unique premise and provocative themes.
With the release date for Jordan Peele’s fourth film nearly two years away it will likely be some time before we hear many details about it. As we do, however, we may learn more about why Universal is so sure the movie will be a success going up against Avatar.
