After several years of studio purgatory, Joss Whedon’s long-shelved, much-anticipated horror film “The Cabin in the Woods” finally arrived before audiences at the South By Southwest Film Festival.
Nobody complained about the delay.
“It really holds up,” deadpanned Whedon after the Friday evening premiere before a rapturous, hooting crowd at Austin’s Paramount Theatre. “I would say, timeless classic.”
“The Cabin in the Woods,” which Whedon produced and co-wrote with director Drew Goddard, had been stuck in limbo after its studio, MGM, went bankrupt in 2010. It is being released by Lionsgate, opening on April 13.
The film couldn’t have played better as the opener of SXSW, a festival known for its warm receptions to edgy popcorn fare. The Oscar-nominated comedy “Bridesmaids” premiered at the festival last year.
The SXSW crowds, currently attending the film festival and its mobbed interactive section, regard Whedon as something of a geek god. The creator of the cult TV series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Firefly,” as well as the acclaimed Web series “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog,” is beloved for his witty genre inventions.
Hundreds of fans packed a Whedon question-and-answer panel Saturday, as many more swarmed outside watching on a TV.
“I have a lot of ideas,” said the prodigious Whedon in a career-ranging talk.
Talking about “The Cabin in the Woods,” which co-stars Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford, has proved challenging, since any discussion quickly leads to giving away its unpredictable plot.
The film takes a playful approach to horror film conventions. It may sound like a cliché horror setting — a remote cabin visited by five college friends — but “The Cabin in the Woods” is far stranger (and funnier) than its old-fashioned façade.
Whedon granted that “awesome” was an acceptable, spoiler-free description, and few seemed to disagree Friday night. One attendee asked if he had intended to make “the last horror film of all time.”
“Yes, that’s it for horror,” said Whedon. “Hope you like rom-coms, ’cause that’s what you’re getting.”
Whedon and Goddard (a veteran TV writer of “Buffy” and “Lost” and the film “Cloverfield” making his directorial debut) holed up in a hotel room and wrote the film over three days. Whedon said a day in which he wrote 26 pages is “a personal best.”
They wrote it shortly before Whedon made “Dr. Horrible,” and he said both came from a similar impulse to cut loose from Hollywood restrictions. He called both “ragingly ridiculous.”
Since making “The Cabin in the Woods,” Whedon has kept busy. He’s written and directed an upcoming adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” and the major Marvel blockbuster, “The Avengers,” due out in May.
Whedon said that film would celebrate the comic heroes — Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk and others — in a fan-boy way. He said his approach isn’t like the more self-conscious “The Dark Knight,” but compared it to “a war movie.”
“I’m not ready to be postmodern about superheroes yet,” Whedon said Saturday to warm applause.
His next project — “the next voice I’m hearing in my head,” he said — is another Web series called “Wastelanders.” Whedon called it a “dark, weird piece.”
The long list of upcoming work only reinforced the wait for “The Cabin in the Woods.” Whitford joked of Whedon and Goddard: “They won’t work with us anymore.”
Utah Leaders and Locals Rally To Keep Sundance Film Festival In The State
With the 2025 Sundance Film Festival underway, Utah leaders, locals and longtime attendees are making a final push — one that could include paying millions of dollars — to keep the world-renowned film festival as its directors consider uprooting.
Thousands of festivalgoers affixed bright yellow stickers to their winter coats that read "Keep Sundance in Utah" in a last-ditch effort to convince festival leadership and state officials to keep it in Park City, its home of 41 years.
Gov. Spencer Cox said previously that Utah would not throw as much money at the festival as other states hoping to lure it away. Now his office is urging the Legislature to carve out $3 million for Sundance in the state budget, weeks before the independent film festival is expected to pick a home for the next decade.
It could retain a small presence in picturesque Park City and center itself in nearby Salt Lake City, or move to another finalist — Cincinnati, Ohio, or Boulder, Colorado — beginning in 2027.
"Sundance is Utah, and Utah is Sundance. You can't really separate those two," Cox said. "This is your home, and we desperately hope it will be your home forever."
Last year's festival generated about $132 million for the state of Utah, according to Sundance's 2024 economic impact report.
Festival Director Eugene Hernandez told reporters last week that they had not made a final decision. An announcement is expected this year by early spring.
Colorado is trying to further sweeten its offer. The state is considering legislation giving up to $34 million in tax incentives to film festivals like Sundance through 2036 — on top of the $1.5 million in funds already approved to lure the Utah festival to its neighboring... Read More