Poster © Magnolia Pictures. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
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GenreComedy, Documentary & History
RatedNot rated yet
Runtime1 hr 41 mins
ReleasedSeptember 18, 2026
StreamingIn theaters now
DirectorJohn Wilson
StarringJohn Wilson
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The History of Concrete (2026)
| ▶Stream It | ★The Numbers |
| 🎫Get Tickets | ✎Edit History |
| iIMDb Profile | %Rotten Tomatoes |
| WWikipedia | LLetterboxd |
| TTMDB | +Add to Top 8 |
| The History of Concrete's Details | |
| Genre | Comedy, Documentary & History |
| Rated | Not rated yet |
| Released | 01/22/2026 (Sundance); 09/18/2026 (United States) |
| Streaming | In theaters now. |
| Running Time | 1 hr 41 mins |
| Budget | Not reported |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| The History of Concrete's Interests | |
| General | Sidewalks, curbs, city blocks, Hallmark formulas, screenwriting workshops, things nobody notices. |
| Music | Jackhammers, car horns and the endless hum of the city. |
| Movies | Koyaanisqatsi (1982). Cities on film, way fewer jokes. |
| Television | How To with John Wilson. The HBO show that made his style famous. |
| Heroes | Concrete. Holds up everything, gets zero credit. |
| The History of Concrete's Crew | |
| Director | John Wilson |
| Producers | Clark Filio, Shirel Kozak, Allie Viti, Francis Carr |
| Cinematography | Nellie Kluz |
| Edited By | Cori Wapnowska |
| Production | Central Pictures, Bronxburgh |
| Distributed By | Magnolia Pictures |
John Wilson’s The History of Concrete runs 101 minutes, and the last stretch could stand to set a little faster. That’s the whole complaint. The pitch is wonderfully strange. Wilson, best known for HBO’s How To with John Wilson, sits in on a workshop about writing and selling a Hallmark movie, then tries to bolt that exact formula onto a documentary about concrete. It shouldn’t work. Instead it becomes an oddly tender comedy about how cities get built and the dull gray stuff under everyone’s feet. If you know his show, you know the move: a joke about one tiny thing that sneaks up on you and ends up being about everything. Critics gave it 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. An 8.4 because it finds real feeling in the most boring material on earth. $327 says you notice a contractor’s stamp in the sidewalk on your next walk and point it out to whoever’s with you.
What works: The Hallmark-formula gimmick is hilarious, and Wilson keeps finding real emotion in the most ordinary corners of city life.
What doesn’t: It runs a bit long, and the final stretch loses some of the snap that makes the first hour so funny.
Who it’s for: Fans of How To with John Wilson, documentary nerds and anyone who notices the weird little details on a city street.
Spoilers
There’s no twist to ruin. The real surprise is that a movie pitched as a Hallmark-formula gag ends up genuinely moving, landing emotional notes nobody would expect from a film about concrete.
Filmmaker John Wilson enrolls in a class that promises to teach the Hallmark movie formula, from first draft to sale. Then he takes that exact formula and points it at a documentary about the history of concrete. Yes, concrete. What comes out is a funny, surprisingly thoughtful look at cities, sidewalks and the stuff American life is literally built on. Wilson directs and stars, Nellie Kluz shoots, Cori Wapnowska edits, and Magnolia Pictures brings it to theaters. One hundred one minutes, fully set.
Anyone who has stared at a sidewalk crack a little too long. Bring a camera.
| John Wilson |
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 18 October 2026 DataBot +400 Numbers refreshed: Worldwide box office $2.3M; Domestic box office $2.1M; Opening weekend $91K; profit note now waits on a budget; Rotten Tomatoes 97%; box office chart updated; Rotten Tomatoes critics 97% (69 reviews); Metacritic 83 / 100; IMDb users 7.6 / 10 (1,070 votes); movie.guru score 9.1.
- (cur | prev) 12:00, 18 October 2026 DataBot +2,000 Profile created from Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo: cast, crew, release dates, budget, official trailer.