Chris Hansen rejects A24 film Primetime as feature opens to $2.7M previews

Hansen criticizes Oppenheim's portrayal

Former television host Chris Hansen issued a public response to Primetime, director Lance Oppenheim's drama depicting the backstage operations of NBC's investigative series To Catch a Predator. Hansen, portrayed in the film by Robert Pattinson, watched the theatrical release after previously refusing to sign a legal nondisclosure agreement requested by distributor A24. In a video released on social media outside a cinema, Hansen stated that the project deviated from his investigative career and questioned its purpose.

It was so bizarre and so in and out of reality. Obviously I'm not objective because the character is, you know, me, but it was so detached from reality or anything I've experienced then or now doing the investigations. I'm not sure what the point of it was.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Hansen argued that the production transformed public safety operations into a horror narrative rather than documenting reality. To counter the film, Hansen purchased advertising for his subscription platform TruBlu across screenings of Primetime and released a promotional trailer for an upcoming documentary titled I'm Chris Hansen.

I think it's an insult to the thousands of men and women who work hard every day to protect children from predators. They turn something that is very positive, very challenging and not without risk into what is essentially a horror film.

Production origins and ensemble cast

The concept for Primetime originated in 2024 when Oppenheim's wife purchased a personalized $40 video greeting from Hansen on Cameo. Oppenheim shared the clip with Pattinson, whose producing partner Brighton McCloskey subsequently provided a screenplay focusing on the 2006 television phenomenon. The drama follows Hansen alongside a fictionalized production team during the expansion of To Catch a Predator from Dateline NBC into a standalone evening broadcast. Merritt Wever stars as producer Andie Bender, an amalgamation of real-life television producers, while Skyler Gisondo plays a decoy actor. The cast also features Tony Revolori, Anna Faris, and Phoebe Bridgers. The feature premiered earlier in September at the Venice Film Festival, where the screening received a seven-minute standing ovation from attendees.

Box office performance and preview figures

Distributed by A24, Primetime opened in theaters on September 25, 2026, following a $15 million production budget. The film generated $2.7 million during its Thursday evening preview screenings, placing its projected weekend box office debut between $16 million and $20 million. The preview gross surpassed Brad Pitt's survival drama Heart of the Beast, which earned $2.0 million on an $82 million budget, but trailed the re-release of Avengers: Endgame Encore, which collected $3.8 million in previews.

The opening reinforces a profitable theatrical cycle for A24 following the summer release of Backrooms. A24 collected $237 million in domestic box office revenue over the summer season, exceeding Paramount's $192 million and Warner Bros.' $165 million.

Legacy of the television franchise

NBC originally debuted To Catch a Predator in 2004, running sting operations organized with the watchdog group Perverted Justice before concluding the series in 2007. The show utilized adult decoys communicating online to confront suspects at designated sting houses before local police executed arrests outside. Hansen co-founded the true-crime streaming network TruBlu in November 2022 to continue independent investigations, offering subscriptions at $4.99 per month or $49.99 annually. Hansen announced plans to publish an extended video review of Primetime on his podcast and YouTube program, Have A Seat With Chris Hansen.