‘Weapons’ hot dog scene goes viral but may have a moving inspiration

Rarely in film history has a character’s tray of food caused such a stir.

The buzzy horror movie “Weapons” is packed with striking, nightmarish images, but an unexpected one has become a social media sensation: a shot of a tray of hot dogs.

In a scene from the film, Benedict Wong’s school principal character, Marcus, is shown at home with his husband, and viewers get a glimpse at their peaceful life before things take a dark turn. Marcus’ husband prepares food for the two of them to share and brings out a surprisingly packed tray filled with a whopping seven hot dogs, four chocolate chip cookies, some potato chips and a bowl of carrots.

For some moviegoers, the arguably excessive number of hot dogs, not to mention the fact that an odd number of them were prepared even though there were only two people, was one of the main things they wanted to talk about after the credits rolled.

“Why did bro need so many hot dogs??” one Reddit user asked, while another commented, “Homies had a LOT of hot dogs to consume which was kind of crazy for lunch time.”

“Sharing 7 hot dogs is just what you do when you’re really in love,” one X user joked. Another person quipped about the online discourse getting out of control, joking, “You don’t see a movie opening weekend and by Monday morning people are talking about the hot dogs in it.”

Even the official X account for Letterboxd got in on the fun, sharing a photo of the hot dog tray from the movie along with the caption, “Time for lunch.”

The X account, Shirts That Go Hard, meanwhile, posted a shirt inspired by the food tray.

But memes aside, there may be a touching meaning behind the scene.

‘Weapons’ comes out: What critics say about the ‘spine-tingler’ horror movie

Fans have speculated that the seven hot dogs are a nod to an old sketch by the Whitest Kids U’Know, the comedy group that “Weapons” director Zach Cregger was a member of alongside late comedian Trevor Moore. In a 2009 sketch from the group’s TV show, a doctor, played by Moore, asks a patient how many hot dogs he eats a day.

“Average per day would be something like, I don’t know, seven?” the patient says, leading the doctor to note that this is “a little high.”

The doctor then asks the patient to walk him through his routine, which reveals that he is constantly eating hot dogs throughout the day.

Spoilers! Why this ‘Weapons’ villain is summer’s most disturbing baddie

In August 2021, Moore died after falling off a balcony at age 41. In interviews, Cregger has said he wrote “Weapons” as a way to process his grief about the loss of his friend.

The film, which stars Julia Garner as a teacher whose entire class disappears except for one student, topped the box office after receiving near-universal acclaim from critics. It was released on Aug. 8, just one day after the fourth anniversary of Moore’s death.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: ‘Weapons’ hot dog scene goes viral, may have moving inspiration