“A Quiet Place: Day One”: Spoilers follow.

Thanks in large part to Frodo (we’re kidding, but it’s true), A Quiet Place: Day One has made a huge splash at the box office as the series’ biggest debut yet.

The horror prequel is set at the beginning of the alien invasion, as Samira (Lupita Nyong’o) and Eric (Joseph Quinn) try to survive in New York City with Samira’s service cat Frodo, masterfully played by cats Schnitzel and Nico.

As with the other films in the series, “A Quiet Place: Day One” has a few weaknesses when it comes to the volume at which the aliens discover you.

However, screenwriter and director Michael Sarnoski has prepared everyone to wonder why Frodo barely makes a sound throughout the film, apart from meowing “a few times.”

“I liked the idea of ​​him being a service cat and her saying right from the start, ‘Hey, be quiet.’ She almost trained the cat not to annoy everyone at the hospice,” he told The Hollywood Reporter.

“I read a study that said meowing is often a learned behavior. It’s how they communicate with people. When cats are alone, they don’t meow as much. So I thought maybe when the apocalypse hits and everyone is gone, they would meow more quietly.

“I also felt that cats are naturally silent predators and game recognizes game. They would see these aliens and see what they’re doing and understand their predatory nature and realize, ‘Oh, I better be quiet.'”

Sarnoski added that Frodo initially hissed and arched his back more frequently, but it was cut from the script when he was told he was unable to do so in practice.

“You can’t teach a cat that. It’s a natural reaction they have when they feel threatened or traumatized. And we’re not going to traumatize a cat,” he noted.

A Quiet Place: Day One is in theaters now.

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