Daisy Ridley-starring apocalyptic thriller We Bury The Dead from Vertical is one of the few new openings this weekend after the last of the 2025 Hollywood holiday tentpoles and awards contenders rolled out for Christmas and New Year’s. The Sundance-premiering zombie flick written and directed by Zak Hilditch debuts on 1,172 screens.
The Plague from Independent Film Company, which debuted at Cannes expands nationwide expansion to over 500 screens after a limited release at two theaters in NY/LA Dec. 24.
Meanwhile, Te awards crush is on with the Golden Globes ceremony Jan. 11 and Oscar nominations Jan. 22. Notable specialty and independent titles populating theaters into the new year include A24 hit Marty Supreme by Josh Safdie; Focus Feature’s Song Sung Blue from Bradley Cooper; No Other Choice by Park Chan-wook and Kleber Mendonça Filho’s The Secret Agent, both from Neon; Bradley Cooper’s Is This Thing On and Mona Fastvold’s The Testament of Ann Lee from Searchlight, and Jim Jarmusch’s Father Mother Sister Brother from Mubi.
In We Bury The Dead, after a catastrophic American military disaster on the Australian island state of Tasmania, the dead don’t just rise, they hunt. The military insists they are harmless and slow-moving, offering hope to grieving families. But when Ava (Ridley) enters a quarantine zone as part of a body retrieval unit and to search for her missing husband, she discovers the undead are growing more violent, relentless and dangerous with every passing hour. With Brenton Thwaites (Titans), Mark Coles Smith (Mystery Road: Origin) and Matt Whelan (Narcos). Ridley’s December film tour included a junket with Brenton and Hilditch, appearances, screenings and Q&As. Alamo Drafthouse is offering a specialty cocktail program at participating theaters featuring a We Bury The Red Margarita and Quarantine Quencher. Not comparing in terms of grosses but early January has see its share of horror over the years from The Damned (2025) and Night Swim (2025) to The Grudge reboot (2020) and Escape Room (2019).
Cannes-premiering The Plague from Independent Film Company starts a nationwide expansion to over 500 screens after a limited release at two theaters on 12/24 – the IFC Center in New York and Laemmle Royal in LA. At 100% Certified Fresh with critics on Rotten Tomatoes, IFC is hoping the film from writer-director Charlie Polinger will appeal to a broad audience as it rolls out. Set in the summer of 2003, at an all-boys water polo camp as socially anxious twelve-year-old Ben (Everett Blunck) struggles to fit into a ruthless social hierarchy. He befriends Eli (Kenny Rasmussen), a lonely, acne-ridden outcast who is shunned by the others for carrying a ficticious “plague” and becomes entangled in an escalating ritual of scapegoating and fear.
The cast stars young newcomers Rasmussen, Blunck and Kayo Martin as ringleader Jake. Joel Edgerton, a producer, plays counselor Daddy Wags.
The Plague nabbed three Film Independent Spirit Awards nominations (Best Feature; Lead Performance for Blunck; and Breakthrough Performance for Martin). Blunk has a Critics Choice Awards for Best Young Actor.
The film took the Deauville American Film Festival Grand Prize & Jury Prize; Sitges Best Actor for the Entire Cast; Fantastic Fest Best Picture; and Woodstock Film Festival Best Feature & Best Editing.
Also opening: Rogue Pictures and Inaugural Entertainment are out with Andre Gaines’ psychological thriller The Dutchman starring André Holland, Zazie Beetz and Kate Mara in moderate release. Based on Amiri Baraka’s 1964 Obie-Award winning play, the updated version premiered at SXSW, see Deadline review, and played at the San Francisco Film Festival and the Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival Holland stars as Clay, a successful but troubled black businessman attending therapy sessions with his wife, Kaya (Beetz) in an attempt to salvage their marriage. But their mysterious therapist is not all that he seems. On a New York subway train, Clay encounters Lula (Mara), a seductive but sinister white stranger who slowly begins to unravel his life. Clay must discover the truth behind this encounter to get back to his wife, heal his fractured soul, and survive the night. Screenplay by Gaines and Qasim Basir.
