Spoilers for A Quiet Place: Day One follow!
A Quiet Place: Day One was met with a huge response in theaters when it debuted in late June 2024, earning the highest opening weekend box office numbers from the whole franchise at $53 million. Currently, the prequel has already surpassed $100 million at the worldwide box office and many suspect that with this strong trajectory, it could also surpass the total lifetime gross of the first film, which would make it the most successful of the series. Paramount Pictures owes much of this success to A Quiet Place: Day One writer-director Michael Sarnoski, who broke out into the scene 3 years ago with his feature debut Pig, starring Nicolas Cage. Aside from boasting one of the most profound performances of Cage’s career, Pig was praised for its unorthodox story that tackled loss, grief, and redemption — the same existential themes that come into play in A Quiet Place: Day One.
Michael Sarnoski’s prequel delivers unpredictable thrills by taking audiences back to the first day of the alien invasion in this universe. While franchise creator/writer-director John Krasinski already did this in the prologue of A Quiet Place Part II, Sarnoski raises the stakes by setting the entire plot of his movie in New York City. Here in the busy city streets, the decibel levels are so high that the invading “Death Angels” — tall and slender creatures who hunt only through sound — basically have their work laid out. The story follows Samira, or “Sam” (Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong’o), a cancer patient living the last months of her life in hospice care. When she and her service cat named Frodo are caught in the middle of this monster invasion in Manhattan, all hell breaks loose. For the first time ever, viewers get to see stampedes of Death Angels take out unknowing victims in waves.
A Quest for New York Pizza
As the Death Angels swarm the city, their biggest weakness, the inability to swim, is made apparent to those who survive in silence. The U.S. government, via helicopters, orders all survivors to silently head to the South Street Seaport, where lifeboats will escape to safety. Sam, however, heads in the opposite direction of the evacuation point towards Harlem. Knowing that she’s already in her final days, all that Sam desires is pizza from the (real-life) Patsy’s Pizzeria. These plans are put on hold when her cat Frodo unexpectedly brings her to Eric (Joseph Quinn), an English law student whose long separation from his home and family has made him terribly afraid of dying. With no one else to turn to, Eric joins Sam in her quest for New York pizza, much to her disliking.
Although Sam is initially hesitant to open up to Eric, it’s through him that she finds peace and purpose, even as her life is about to end. As they work together to survive the apocalypse, Sam also learns how to talk to Eric about her emotions and life as an acclaimed and published poet. Moreover, she reveals that her last wish for pizza is tied to her loving memories of her late father, who always took Sam to see him play at a jazz club in Harlem and get Patsy’s after as a tradition. Even though the duo soon discovers that Patsy’s was destroyed in the invasion, Eric makes Sam’s final dreams come true by venturing out to get pizza from another store and staging a small magic show just for her at the jazz club her father used to play at. This cheers Sam up beyond her imagination.
The Ultimate Sacrifice
After saying goodbye to the jazz club, Sam and Eric try to reach the evacuation point in time to leave. Before they can reach the boat, though, Death Angels surround the bay. Sam makes the ultimate sacrifice and gives her yellow sweater and Frodo to Eric, allowing him to run for the water while she distracts the aliens by smashing car windows nearby. They both survive the encounter, but only Eric gets to reach the boat and leave the city. The audience then receives an emotional gut punch when Eric finds a note from Sam in the sweater’s pocket. She knew that she wasn’t going to make it onto the boat. In the letter, Sam tells Eric to take good care of Frodo and thanks him for reminding her how to live.
Filmmaker Michael Sarnoski tells a heart-wrenching story about finding peace and purpose in the face of death in A Quiet Place: Day One. The movie’s final image is Sam walking through the beautiful, empty streets of New York City as she listens to Nina Simone‘s cover of “Feeling Good” on her old iPod connected to a small speaker. Having accepted her terminal fate, Sam smiles and unplugs her earphones from the speaker, letting the song play out loud. Just as a Death Angel appears right behind her, the screen cuts to black. Instead of living out the rest of her days in misery, Sam makes them mean something by helping and protecting others. Whether it’s regarding Eric or her cat Frodo, Sam put their lives over hers at the end of the day. And when it was her time to die, Sam got to leave on her own terms.
A Triumphant Risk
Considering the subject matter surrounding Sam’s character and her health, choosing to end a major studio summer blockbuster on such a poignant note could be seen as quite risky. However, according to his own words, writer-director Michael Sarnoski overcame no trepidation when crafting the ending of A Quiet Place: Day One. As the filmmaker exclusively tells DiscussingFilm, Sam choosing to end her own life on such a graceful note was “an essential part of the film.” Read his full quote below.
That was an essential part of the film. I mean, you know that in order to do justice to the character and what she’s going through, [the movie] has to somehow end like that. I think the biggest task for me with this project was to find a way to have that ending but not make it feel the way [it appears in the script]. On paper, it feels bleak and sad, just like the end of the world is, but in practice and in how you experience it, I wanted [the ending] to feel somehow triumphant and life-affirming.
The Franchise Wins Big
Just because Michael Sarnoski wasn’t hesitant to end A Quiet Place: Day One on a final note that many moviegoers were bound to call “too bleak” doesn’t mean that he wasn’t nervous about the idea. In fact, that unknown outcome is what made him so excited to do it in the first place. Sarnoski continues to explain his motivations for the ending of A Quiet Place: Day One in the quote below.
Sam takes back her agency and her joy, and I think trying to feel that way while you’re seeing [her choose to die on her own terms] was kind of the fun challenge of it. I was excited by what many people would think is a risky ending, and hopefully, we pulled it off. I’m happy with it. I feel that way when I watch it. But it’s a tricky one, it’s definitely risky.
Thanks to writer-director Michael Sarnoski and lead actor Lupita Nyong’o (Black Panther, Us) and her take on the character of Sam, the third film in the A Quiet Place series stands uniquely on its own and will not be easily forgotten due to its powerful ending. Ultimately, John Krasinski and Paramount made the perfect choice by letting a rising storyteller like Sarnoski play in this universe while they quietly (pun intended) prepare for the next sequel, A Quiet Place Part 3. Considering the success of this prequel/spin-off, Kransinski and the studio would be wise to welcome more fresh filmmakers to the A Quiet Place franchise. Who knows what other aspects relating to the survival of mankind this saga could explore? Furthermore, if all is right in Hollywood, then Michael Sarnoksi should have a bright future ahead of him.
A Quiet Place: Day One is now playing in theaters!
Release Date: June 28, 2024.
Directed by Michael Sarnoski.
Screenplay by Michael Sarnoski.
Story by John Krasinski & Michael Sarnoski.
Based on characters by Bryan Woods & Scott Beck.
Produced by Michael Bay, Andrew Form, Brad Fuller, & John Krasinski.
Executive Producers: Allyson Seeger & Vicki Dee Rock.
Main Cast: Lupita Nyong’o, Joseph Quinn, Alex Wolff, Djimon Hounsou, & Eliane Umuhire.
Cinematographer: Pat Scola.
Composer: Alexis Grapsas.
Production Companies: Platinum Dunes & Sunday Night Productions.
Distributor: Paramount Pictures.
Runtime: 99 minutes.
Rated PG-13.
