Published : 28 Sep 2026, 11:03 PM
Updated : 28 Sep 2026, 11:03 PM
Robert Pattinson's true-crime thriller Primetime has delivered a strong opening weekend for indie studio A24, pulling in $19.2 million from 2,863 North American venues to land the studio's third-best debut in its history.
The film, directed by Lance Oppenheim, follows the making of the reality television series To Catch a Predator and the increasingly frantic efforts of its host journalist Chris Hansen to expose child sexual predators through sting operations, reports Variety.
It cost $15 million to produce and is already well-placed to turn a profit.
Primetime finished fourth on the domestic charts behind Disney's Avengers: Endgame Encore, Sony's Resident Evil reboot, and Paramount's The Heart of the Beast -- but outperformed expectations given its modest budget and arthouse positioning.
It holds an 87 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Pattinson proved to be the primary draw, with exit polls showing more than 75 percent of audiences citing him as their main reason for attending.
The result is his second consecutive hit with A24 following the spring release of The Drama, which co-starred Zendaya and opened to $14.3 million.
Gen Z audiences made up 69 percent of opening weekend crowds -- a notable figure given that most were too young to watch the original show when it aired between 2004 and 2007.
A24 has built a loyal younger following through films such as Everything Everywhere All at Once and this year's breakout sensation Backrooms, which earned $400 million against a $10 million budget, according to Variety.
Ironically, Hansen himself may have helped market the film.
Before he had even seen it, the journalist publicly criticised Pattinson's portrayal of him and questioned the studio's motives -- generating headlines that put the film on the radar of To Catch a Predator fans nationwide.
