We’re just under a month out from Beau Is Afraid, a nightmare comedy from A24 and director Ari Aster (Hereditary, Midsommar) that will release in theaters on April 21, 2023.
While the marketing campaign seems quiet so close to release, clues scattered across the web suggest a Beau is Afraid ARG (Augmented Reality Game) is well underway in promotion of Aster’s latest…
Earlier this year, an official movie TikTok account posted now-deleted videos directing viewers to the MW Industries® Instagram, followed by a website to sign up to become MW Ambassadors. Subscribers get periodic updates, including secret links to A24’s shop for MW Industries® merch and notifications for a newly created LinkedIn page for the fictional company. It’s worth noting that inspecting the source code on the Perfectly Safe Co. site includes the ominous “real people should not fill this in and expect good things” message embedded.
It seems as though the rabbit hole is only going to get deeper, with new activity expanding to MW Ambassador profiles.
What does any of this have to do with Beau is Afraid? It turns out that MW stands for Mona Wilmington, the mother of Beau Wilmington (Joaquin Phoenix) and founder of the company. Will the ARG unveil any deeper connections or intel about the movie? That remains to be seen, but at least this offers some fun clues in the meantime.
We’ll be paying attention. Stay tuned.
In Beau is Afraid, “A paranoid man embarks on an epic odyssey to get home to his mother in this bold and ingeniously depraved new film from writer/director Ari Aster.”
Nathan Lane, Amy Ryan, Stephen Mckinley Henderson, Hayley Squires, Denis Ménochet, Kylie Rogers, Armen Nahapetian, Parker Posey, and Patti LuPone star in the A24 produced and financed film, penned by Aster.
Watch the official trailer for Aster’s Beau Is Afraid below, which looks to be a wildly unique vision. And while it may not exactly fall into the horror genre like Aster’s two previous feature films for A24, it looks every bit the “nightmare comedy” that Aster once called it.
