Poster © A24. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
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GenreBiography, Crime & Drama
RatedR
Runtime1 hr 49 mins
ReleasedSeptember 25, 2026
StreamingIn theaters now
DirectorLance Oppenheim
StarringRobert Pattinson, Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisondo
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Primetime (2026)
| ▶Stream It | ★The Numbers |
| 🎫Get Tickets | ✎Edit History |
| iIMDb Profile | %Rotten Tomatoes |
| WWikipedia | LLetterboxd |
| TTMDB | +Add to Top 8 |
| Primetime's Details | |
| Genre | Biography, Crime & Drama |
| Rated | R |
| Released | 09/05/2026 (Venice); 09/25/2026 (United States) |
| Streaming | In theaters now. |
| Running Time | 1 hr 49 mins |
| Budget | $14.5M (reported) |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Based On | "Tonight on Dateline This Man Will Die" by Luke Dittrich |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Primetime's Interests | |
| General | Hidden cameras, kitchen tables, ratings books. |
| Music | Phoebe Bridgers, somehow. |
| Movies | Network. The original warning. |
| Television | Dateline, all of it. |
| Heroes | Producers who said no. |
| Primetime's Crew | |
| Director | Lance Oppenheim |
| Writers | Ajon Singh |
| Producers | Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Fred Berger, William Iannaccone, Robert Pattinson, Brighton McCloskey, Lars Knudsen, Ari Aster |
| Cinematography | David Bolen |
| Music | Ari Balouzian |
| Edited By | Daniel Garber |
| Production | A24, Icki Eneo Arlo, Range, Square Peg |
| Distributed By | A24 |
Satire, horror movie or confession? Primetime tries all three and keeps switching right when one starts working. Lance Oppenheim goes back to the To Catch a Predator era and shows a TV newsroom chasing ratings like oxygen, with Robert Pattinson as Chris Hansen, nailing that calm, measured host voice until it starts to sound haunted. Merritt Wever plays a producer chewing nicotine gum like it owes her money, and she’s the sharpest thing in it. Skyler Gisondo plays a young actor hired as a decoy, and his slow drift from uneasy to starstruck is the movie’s quiet spine. A strange thread about an ancient evil gets in the way more than it helps. The last stretch drops the jokes completely, and it should. Critics landed at 86% on Rotten Tomatoes, and on a reported $14.5M budget it made $42.1 million domestic. A 6.8 because the performances are sharp and the movie never decides what it thinks of the show. $3,317 says you scroll past the next viral clip of someone’s worst day instead of sharing it.
What works: Robert Pattinson’s eerie, precise Chris Hansen and Merritt Wever’s ratings-hungry producer give the film its bite.
What doesn’t: It keeps changing tone, and a supernatural thread about an ancient evil muddies what should be a sharp media story.
Who it’s for: Adults who remember the show, or who like dark media satires about what television will do for an audience.
Spoilers
The team chases a high-profile target to a small Texas town and skips its usual steps, and the night ends in a real-life tragedy instead of the confrontation the cameras came for. The film ends with Hansen shaken by what the show has become.
Robert Pattinson plays Chris Hansen in the To Catch a Predator era, when Dateline turned sting operations into primetime ratings. Lance Oppenheim directs this A24 take on how far TV will go for a number, based on Luke Dittrich's Esquire story. Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisondo and Phoebe Bridgers co-star. One hundred and nine minutes of 'why don't you have a seat.'
Anyone who remembers where they were for the first episode.
| Robert Pattinson | Chris Hansen |
| Merritt Wever | Andie Bender |
| Skyler Gisondo | Daniel "Dan" Plum |
| Matthew Maher | Xavier Von Erck |
| Anna Faris | Mary Joan Hansen |
| Bokeem Woodbine | Cortland Gunn |
| Alex Winter | Bill Conradt |
| Phoebe Bridgers | Del Harvey |
| Tony Revolori | an ex-Marine child predator caught on the show |
| Jonathan Lipnicki | a child predator caught on the show using the screen name Cr |
| Eric Rahill | Troy |
| Sean Bridgers | Lloyd |
| Jeff Zucker | himself |
| Creed Bratton | Jim Christian |
| Caroline Hebert | Krysten |
| Bob Ari | a rabbi child predator caught on the show |
| Bill Heck | Stone Phillips |
| Jessica Hecht | Patty Patterson |
| Jon Bass | Richie |
| David Fierro | a child predator caught on the show |
| Michael Chachere | himself |
| Matt Smith | a disabled child predator caught on the show |
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 18 October 2026 DataBot +200 Numbers refreshed: Worldwide box office $45.5M → $47.7M; Domestic box office $42.1M → $44.2M; Profit / loss (est.) +$1M → +$2.1M; box office chart updated; IMDb users 7.1 / 10 (18,842 votes) → 7.1 / 10 (19,344 votes).
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 17 October 2026 DataBot +120 Numbers refreshed: RT 86% (239 reviews) → 86% (241 reviews); IMDb users 7.1 / 10 (18,466 votes) → 7.1 / 10 (18,842 votes); movie.guru score 6.5.
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 16 October 2026 DataBot +40 Numbers refreshed: score credits updated.
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 15 October 2026 DataBot +320 Numbers refreshed: Worldwide box office $45.5M; Domestic box office $42.1M; Opening weekend $18.8M; Profit / loss (est.) +$1M; Rotten Tomatoes 86%; CinemaScore B; box office chart updated; RT 86% (239 reviews).
- (cur | prev) 12:00, 15 October 2026 DataBot +2,000 Profile created from Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo: cast, crew, release dates, budget, official trailer.