STXfilms and Lakeshore Entertainment's follow-up to horror film director William Brent Bell's PG-13 horror-thriller The Boy starring Lauren Cohan and Rupert Evans began principal photography earlier this year in Vancouver, British Columbia. The original film was produced for less than $15 million and grossed $68M worldwide so this sequel seems kind of unsurprising to say the least. And today we have not only your first look at the new film but a release date as well. You can check out the first look pic above and/or below. Moving on quickly, we now have word that The Boy 2 will be creeping around in the walls of your local multiplex come July 26, 2019.

And speaking of July 26, 2019, it's an interesting date for the powers that be behind the scenes to pick, considering that's the same day the next Quentin Tarantino motion picture, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is set to open. Do they think it's a good idea to go up against that movie? I mean the name Tarantino should be enough to scare them off, but then add in heavyweights such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, and Margot Robbie (to name a few) and I think The Boy 2 is going to get buried on arrival. But maybe not.

Written by Stacey Menear, who also penned its predecessor, The Boy 2 follows a young family that moves into the Heelshire Mansion estate, unaware of the terrifying history. Once all set up and cozy, their young son makes an unsettling new friend, you guessed it, an eerily life-like doll he calls Brahms. Cohan and Evans are not returning this time around and have instead been replaced with Katie Holmes (Batman Begins) who leads the cast with Christopher Convery (The Girl in the Spider's Web) to co-star as her son. Owain Yeoman (The Belko Experiment) joins as her husband, and Ralph Ineson (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,The Witch) will play the mysterious role of some dude named "Joseph." The Boy director William Brent Bell (Stay Alive, The Devil Inside, Wer) will return behind the camera for this new Brahms adventure as well. The Boy 2 is produced by Lakeshore's Tom Rosenberg, Gary Lucchesi and Eric Reid, in addition to Matt Berenson, Jim Wedaa and Roy Lee.

For those that need a refresher, the original film followed The Walking Dead star Lauren Cohan as a young American named Greta who takes a job as a nanny for an 8-year-old boy in a remote English village. To her surprise, Greta learns that the child of her new employers isn't a child at all, but a totally not creepy life-size doll. She watches as the old couple take care of the doll as if it was human, which evidently helps them cope with the death of their real son some 20 years back. The couple then leaves Greta alone with the doll and a list of strict-ass rules. And as you might imagine this being a "scary" movie and all, eventually things take a turn for the creepy, kooky, and spooky, leading Greta to believe that the doll is alive. Moo-Haha.

The original movie was directed by Brent Bell from a screenplay also written by Menear. Matt Berenson, Jodyne Herron, Gary Lucchesi, Tom Rosenberg, and Jim Wedaa produced and the film starred Cohan as Greta, Rupert Evans (Hellboy) as Malcolm, Jim Norton as Mr. Heelshire, Diana Hardcastle as Mrs. Heelshire, Ben Robson as Cole, Jett Klyne as young Brahms Heelshire, James Russell as adult Brahms Heelshire, and Lily Pater as Emily Cribbs. This update was originally shared on Bloody Disgusting.

The Boy 2 photo