Welcome to Santa Cruz! Jordan Peele’s “Us” a Thrill Ride for the Season

In 1987, future filmmaker Jordan Peele was so inspired by 1987’s The Lost Boys that he promised himself he would film a movie in the Santa Cruz area one day.  More than three decades later Peele’s Us is set to debut.  Santa Cruz serves as a classic beach setting for a vacationing family in the movie.  See the trailer here.

This suspenseful thriller from Universal Pictures, starring Jordan Peele, Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, and Elizabeth Moss, is a follow-up project to Jordan Peele’s 2017 film Get Out and tells the story of a family visiting Santa Cruz, California when they confronted by a family nearly identical to them, with grotesque features and mysterious motives.

Key scenes were shot at the UC Santa Cruz campus, Main Beach, the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, and at Big Basin Redwoods State Park.  

“In a sense, Santa Cruz serves as an integral character in the story, juxtaposing the carefree setting of a classic summertime vacation with the psychological horrors that await the main characters,” said Christina Glynn with the Santa Cruz County Film Commission. 

The Santa Cruz County Film Commission, a department within Visit Santa Cruz County , assisted with location information and helped coordinate film permits and lodging for the cast and crew during the production.  The production was filmed in California and other locations include Pasadena, Calabasas, Crestline, and Nicasio in Marin County.

Following critical acclaim at SXSW and other film festivals, Us was released in theaters nationwide on Friday, March 22, 2019. The opening weekend grossed $71.1 Million, the second highest opening weekend for a horror film in history.

According to Box Office Mojo, Jordan Peele’s thriller grossed more than $164 million overall. ‘Us’ is now available on DVD, which features over an hour of bonus behind-the-scenes content on the filming of the movie.