Moviegoers scanning the marquee this weekend face a packed lineup of new theatrical releases, streaming debuts, and specialty film screenings.
Primetime Reimagines the Shock Culture of To Catch a Predator
The weekend’s buzziest theatrical release is Primetime, the first narrative feature from documentarian Lance Oppenheim. The film serves as a companion piece to David Osit’s documentary Predators, exploring the early-2000s NBC series To Catch a Predator, a Dateline spinoff hosted by Chris Hansen. Oppenheim previously made the Netflix docuseries “Ren Faire” about the Texas Renaissance Festival.
Robert Pattinson steps into the role of Hansen, delivering a mannered, over-the-top performance that captures the television personality’s self-aggrandizing and self-loathing nature. The plot follows Hansen’s quest to turn his undercover investigations into a cultural phenomenon that rivaled big-budget entertainment like Lost in the ratings. Skyler Gisondo stars alongside Pattinson as a naive actor seeking his big break by playing decoy children on the program, while Merritt Wever plays the show’s producer.
“What would have happened if I wasn’t here?”
Chris Hansen character
Oppenheim’s film captures the era’s mentality, blending period formats to create the feel of the production. While the documentary predecessor explores the inherent exploitation of sensationalist television and the rise of vigilante justice, the narrative feature leans into a nightmarish character study of Hansen himself.
Heart of the Beast and Wide-Ranging Theatrical Releases
For audiences seeking outdoor survival rather than television satire, David Ayer (“The Beekeeper,” “End of Watch”) directs Brad Pitt in Heart of the Beast from Paramount Pictures. Pitt stars as a Special Forces officer who, after a plane crash, is forced to survive in the harsh Alaskan wilderness with his dog.
Regional and specialty cinema across the country features several notable additions this week. Four years ago, nature documentarian Ben Masters made the widely acclaimed Deep in the Heart: A Texas Wildlife Story,
a celebration of the ecology and landscape of the Lone Star State. Now, he’s back with Deep in the Heart 2: Texas Rivers,
an exploration of our state’s waterways and the animals reside in them from Fin and Fur LLC, rated G and opening throughout Houston. Meanwhile, biographical documentary No Limbs, No Limits: The NickV Story tells the story of Australian Nick Vujicic, who was born with neither arms nor legs and went on to become an evangelist, entrepreneur, motivational speaker, and global inspiration, playing at Cinemark NASA in Webster, Loews Fountains 18 in Stafford, Cinemark Katy, Regal Lone Star in Tomball, and Cinemark The Woodlands.
Additional theatrical openings include the animated family film Forgotten Island about two friends stranded on an island, featuring a cast with Manny Jacinto, Dave Franco, Liza Soberano, H.E.R., and Kevin McCann from DreamWorks Animation, rated PG and opening throughout Houston. Also opening throughout Houston is Josef Kubota Wladyka’s comedy-drama Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!, a Japanese, Spanish, and English-language film set in the world of Tokyo’s ballroom dancing scene starring Rinko Kikuchi and Alberto Guerra from Sony Pictures Classics with an R rating. John Wilson’s comedic documentary The History of Concrete takes a look at what happens when he uses lessons from a Hallmark movie writing workshop to make a movie about concrete, opening unrated at the River Oaks Theatre in Houston. Other releases include the retooled ‘Avengers Endgame: Encore’ containing a few minutes of previously unseen footage and exclusive teaser footage, rated PG-13 and opening throughout Houston; an indie romantic comedy about a couple trying to build a life together when one is successful and the other is not, starring Nick Robinson and Emilia Jones with an R rating; an award-winning, Spanish-language fantasy film from Bolivia in which a young girl tries to get her long-suffering mother into heaven, unrated and playing Friday through Sunday at The River Oaks Theatre in Houston; a Tamil-language action-adventure film from India screening at 10:25 p.m. Friday at Cinemark Katy; a Telugu-language action epic set in 1980s Secunderabad; a Malayalam-language drama from India about a female constable opening at AMC Loews Fountains 18 in Stafford and Cinemark Missouri City; a re-release of a 2004 romantic-comedy starring Adam Sandler, Tea Leoni, and Cloris Leachman with a PG-13 rating; and a feature following daredevil Ken Carter in the 1970s dreaming of launching a rocket car across the St. Lawrence.
Streaming Debuts and Home Viewing Options
Viewers staying home can access a wide slate of new rental and streaming titles. Comedy sequel Super Troopers 3 arrives to rent or buy alongside a pair of low-budget flicks in Idiots and Eli Roth’s Ice Cream Man. On streaming platforms, indie gem Tuner makes its way to Paramount+, while Toy Story 5 debuts on Disney+.