Stop! That! Train!, the first feature film born from the RuPaul’s Drag Race universe, opened Friday in theaters nationwide — a self-described disaster spoof that took a decade to make and arrived as one of the most camp-conscious theatrical releases of Pride Month.
Produced by World of Wonder co-founders Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, directed by Adam Shankman (Hairspray), and written by Christina Friel and Connor Wright, the film stars RuPaul as President Judy Gagwell, who must avert a catastrophic “Stormaganza” threatening to crash the Glamazonian Express — a luxury high-speed train — into Los Angeles. Drag Race alums Ginger Minj and Jujubee play the coach-class stewardess duo at the film’s center, with Symone, Brooke Lynn Hytes, Latrice Royale, and Marcia Marcia Marcia rounding out the drag ensemble. Celebrity cameos from Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Raven-Symoné, Charo, and Chris Parnell fill out a packed roster.
The film was shot in 19 days on the same Los Angeles stage where Drag Race films, employing up to 200 local crew members. It was independently financed. Shankman pushed the concept away from its original airplane setting early in development, arguing the train format could preserve the same comedic stakes while opening new physical gags.
Bailey and Barbato have positioned Stop! That! Train! explicitly as a Pride Month statement. Barbato called RuPaul someone who was “built for this,” adding that the film amounts to something beyond entertainment. “It’s not just fun. It’s healing,” Bailey told Variety.
Critics opened warmly toward it. The film debuted at 88 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, with reviewers most consistently praising the central chemistry between Ginger Minj and Jujubee, which the Hollywood Reporter called “in perfect sync.” The Airplane! comparisons arrived as expected, though IndieWire noted the film “doesn’t quite become the modern Airplane! it’s clearly trying to be.” The consensus settled around a cheerful, camp-forward crowd-pleaser — best absorbed in a packed theater during Pride season.
Pre-release, Shankman had to address social media claims that the film used generative AI in its visual effects. “There are a sum total of ZERO shots conceived by AI in the movie,” he posted on Instagram. “We employed hundreds of VFX artists who all killed themselves getting this out for release and not one job was taken out of human hands.” World of Wonder did not separately respond to the allegations, which were amplified partly by a separate Drag Race controversy in April in which AI-generated imagery appeared in an episode.
