LOS ANGELES — Zach Cregger's movie "Barbarian" already had to be brought back from the dead once — by film company New Regency after its financing fell apart before the start of production.
So the actor-turned-director was categorically not expecting a theatrical release for his twisted horror film when he finished shooting it in Bulgaria. But unbeknownst to him, executives from Walt Disney Co., which releases New Regency films, had seen "Barbarian" at an early audience screening in Long Beach and thought it was right for the big screen.
The $4.5 million movie, about a young woman who finds herself double-booked with a strange man at a rental home, ended up opening at No. 1 at the box office and eventually grossing more than $40 million in ticket sales.
