Robert Pattinson’s “Primetime” opened to an estimated $19.2 million domestically this weekend, setting a new opening-weekend record for A24 and confirming the actor’s pull with younger moviegoers. The film topped the studio’s previous best, “The Drama,” which debuted to $14.38 million in April alongside Zendaya. Thursday previews alone brought in $2.7 million, putting early tracking ahead of Brad Pitt’s “Heart of the Beast,” a Paramount survival drama that earned $2 million in its own preview showings.
Directed by Lance Oppenheim in his narrative feature debut, “Primetime” casts Pattinson as Chris Hansen, the journalist who built “To Catch a Predator” into a ratings phenomenon for Dateline NBC in the mid-2000s. Skyler Gisondo and Merritt Wever round out the cast. Critics responded warmly: the film holds an 87 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, ahead of “The Drama’s” 76 percent, while audiences gave it 80 percent on the Popcornmeter.
The film cost roughly $14.5 million to make, so its opening weekend alone should carry it close to its break-even point. A24 has had its strongest year as a company, having crossed $237 million in domestic grosses this summer with “Backrooms” and outpacing both Paramount and Warner Bros. over the same stretch.
Hansen has kept a wary distance from the project. He says producers asked him to sign away rights to his name and likeness before offering him a private screening, a request he refused. Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, he called Pattinson’s performance “overly dramatic” but conceded it was “a pretty good imitation.” He has floated legal action, telling a SiriusXM podcast he was reviewing his options.
Pattinson addressed the friction at a Venice Film Festival press conference, saying he hoped Hansen would eventually come around to the film. He credited the original “To Catch a Predator” broadcasts with reshaping what television could do, calling the format groundbreaking regardless of the criticism now surrounding its dramatization.
With “Primetime” landing in the same frame as “Avengers: Endgame Encore,” its theatrical run will test whether Pattinson’s drawing power extends beyond specialty audiences into the mainstream.
