(Updated 02/15/2024)
What if the imaginary friends most of us had in childhood weren't merely created in our minds? The movie IMAGINARY starts off with the idea that these were actually beings who attach themselves to young human minds — and they get pretty upset when they're cast off as we grow older.
That's a pretty good supernatural setup for a new riff on the haunted house tale. The new trailer for IMAGINARY will tell you more about this March 2024 horror movie from Blumhouse and Lionsgate, and we'll fill in a few more blanks.
What's the Imaginary Release Date?
Lionsgate will release IMAGINARY in movie theatres on March 8, 2024.
Watch the New Imaginary Trailer
This trailer does a good job of promising a movie that will have audiences yelling "no no noNoNO!" for 90 minutes. It's got a bit of POLTERGEIST and dashes of several other foundational supernatural horror movies, and even the hint of some weird "home dimension" space for the imaginary friends.
Who Made Imaginary?
The movie IMAGINARY is co-written and directed by Jeff Wadlow, who wrote the original script with Greg Erb and Jason Oremland (THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG) and Bryce McGuire (NIGHT SWIM). Wadlow's career started with the slasher movie CRY WOLF in 2005, and he's directed a handful of other movies across a variety of genres. He did KICK-ASS 2, wrote BLOODSHOT, and made the fight movie NEVER BACK DOWN.
The movie also marks the full feature debut of cinematographer James McMillan, who has contributed location unit and second unit work to a string of Marvel movies such as AVENGERS: ENDGAME as well as MORBIUS, TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS, and AQUAMAN AND THE LOST KINGDOM. All those credits suggest that McMillan is great at creating work that incorporates significant visual effects, which should be an asset here.
The Cast of Imaginary
In IMAGINARY, DeWanda Wise stars as Jessica, who returns to her childhood home with her family. Pyper Braun plays Jessica's stepdaughter, Alice, who finds Jessica's old stuffed bear, Chauncey, in the house. As the trailer shows, Chauncey is eventually revealed to be far more than an old toy.
Wise is also an executive producer on the movie. Director Jeff Wadlow told Deadline, "DeWanda has been more than a star on this movie – she has been a full creative partner. So much of horror grows out of our most basic fears from childhood, and DeWanda taps into all of that. You know that old saying that the audience’s imagination is scarier than any movie? We’re going to put that to the test."
The cast also features Betty Buckley as the woman who helps explain what's going on, and Tom Payne, Taegen Burns, Matthew Sato, Veronica Falcón, and Dane DiLiegro.
IMAGINARY opens on March 8.
All images courtesy of Lionsgate.