Lede

The absurdity is that this is a perfectly decent 105-minute cinema release that mostly proves how many decent films now live under streaming logic unless they can sell spectacle.

Hermit Off Script

How to Make a Killing is overall a good movie, and that is exactly why it annoys me. My whole point here is not that cinema is dead or that the film is bad. It is that the thin line between streaming movies and cinema has nearly vanished, and for me IMAX is now the last clean argument left for why I should get up, travel, sit in a room with strangers and pay cinema money. Home still cannot fully replace one thing, and that is the social factor. You meet a friend, or family, you go out, you share the same room and the same reactions, and that still matters. But even that little kingdom has cracks in the wall. When a film is actually good, you do not really want a running conversation, or someone chewing like they are testing industrial equipment, or a glowing phone doing a side quest in row F. Good films demand quiet. Good films demand focus. So the social factor is real, but it is thinner than people pretend. That is why this film lands in such an awkward place. It is not groundbreaking. It is not some giant screen revelation. It is just the sort of solid, watchable, mid-level film that used to belong comfortably in cinemas without needing to justify its existence like a suspect at customs. Now it has to compete with the sofa, the big television, the better soundbars, the better screens, and the increasingly trained instinct in audiences to say, “Looks decent. I’ll catch it at home.” A24 already has pre-order links up, Rotten Tomatoes already shows at-home purchase options, and the box office so far is modest enough to underline the point. So yes, too bad this was not one of those films with a premium-format (IMAX) pull strong enough to make the trip feel essential. Give technology another 20 years and people will watch “together” through glasses. Give it 50 and some cheerful lunatic in marketing will sell brainwave IMAX as intimacy. This film is not the death of cinema. It is the proof that the middle has already been evicted.

How to Make a Killing | Official Trailer (2026)

Only IMAX still feels theatrical

A disowned working-class heir takes bloody aim at his monstrously wealthy family to reclaim the fortune he believes is his.

How to Make a Killing is a 2026 black comedy thriller directed by John Patton Ford and starring Glen Powell as Becket Redfellow, a working-class man shut out by his obscenely rich family since birth. When the chance to reclaim his inheritance appears, Becket sets out on a ruthless path through a dynasty of money, privilege and blood ties, turning a family fortune into a darkly comic war of revenge.

Cast and credits

Director: John Patton Ford
Writers: John Patton Ford
Genre: Comedy, thriller
Main cast: Glen Powell, Margaret Qualley, Jessica Henwick, Bill Camp, Zach Woods, Topher Grace, Ed Harris
Composer: Emile Mosseri
Production company/studio: Blueprint Pictures, StudioCanal
Runtime: 105 minutes
Release year and platform: 2026, cinema release, with home purchase and pre-order already being positioned alongside theatrical play.

What does not make sense

• It is sold as a cinema release, yet A24 is already pushing pre-order links and Rotten Tomatoes already lists at-home purchase options beside the theatrical run. That is not a grand theatrical aura. That is a countdown to the sofa.
• Critics are at 42 per cent while verified audience ratings sit at 77 per cent, which is almost the exact profile of a film people describe as “good enough” rather than “go now”.
• The worldwide box office is $8,775,316 so far, which is not a disaster, but it is hardly the sort of number that argues for urgency, scale, or event status.
• Even the UK release date looks slightly muddy: the official UK site says 11 March 2026, while the Guardian review published on 11 March says the UK release is 13 March. That feels oddly fitting for a film caught between windows, formats and expectations.

Sense check / The numbers

1. The film runs 105 minutes, is written and directed by John Patton Ford, and stars Glen Powell, Margaret Qualley, Jessica Henwick, Bill Camp, Zach Woods, Topher Grace and Ed Harris. [A24]
2. The official UK site lists the cinema date as 11 March 2026, while the Guardian review states it was released in the UK on 13 March 2026. [StudioCanal] [Guardian]
3. Rotten Tomatoes currently shows 42 per cent from 164 critic reviews and 77 per cent from 250+ verified audience ratings. [Rotten Tomatoes]
4. Metacritic currently shows a 51 metascore and a 6.4 user score. [Metacritic]
5. Box Office Mojo currently lists $7,739,597 domestic, $1,035,719 international and $8,775,316 worldwide. [Box Office Mojo]

The sketch

Scene 1: Good movie, wrong era
Panel description + dialogue:
A cinema lobby is split in two. On one side a giant premium screen glows like a shrine. On the other side sits a normal poster for the film, looking slightly embarrassed.
Friend 1: “Is it good?”
Friend 2: “Yes. Which is why everyone will wait.”

Scene 2: The social factor
Panel description + dialogue:
Two friends sit in the dark, both focused on the screen. One holds popcorn very carefully, like handling explosives.
Friend 1: “Cinema still gives you the human bit.”
Friend 2: “Lovely. Keep the human bit quiet.”

Scene 3: Brainwave IMAX
Panel description + dialogue:
A person lies on a sofa wearing a huge sleek visor while a cheerful executive points at a screen that reads “Neural IMAX beta”.
Executive: “Now you can watch together from home.”
Viewer: “So you finally industrialised solitude.”

What to watch, not the show

• Premium-format economics. More and more, the theatrical trip has to justify itself with scale, not simply competence. This is an inference from the film’s modest box office and mixed critical reception.
• Home-first conditioning. When pre-order links and at-home purchase listings sit so close to the theatrical message, audiences learn patience as a default behaviour.
• The shrinking value of the “ordinary” cinema release. A film can be decent, cast well, and still feel like future streaming content in people’s heads before the credits have rolled. That is an inference from the scores and gross.
• Social viewing changing shape. Cinema still offers shared presence, but for focused films the value is company before and after, not chatter during the thing itself.
• Technology quietly eating the middle. Better home setups, better wearables and future immersive gimmicks will not kill cinema outright, but they will keep asking ordinary releases a brutal question: “Why leave home for this?”

The Hermit take

Good film, wrong throne.
If IMAX is the moat, the rest of cinema is already bargaining with the sofa.

Keep or toss

Keep / Toss
Keep the film.
Toss the old fantasy that every decent release still has an automatic reason to be seen at the cinema.

Sources

• A24 film page: https://a24films.com/films/how-to-make-a-killing
• Official UK site: https://www.howtomakeakilling.co.uk/
• Rotten Tomatoes page: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/how_to_make_a_killing_2026
• Metacritic page: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/how-to-make-a-killing/
• Box Office Mojo page: https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt4357198/
• StudioCanal title page: https://www.studiocanal.com/title/how-to-make-a-killing-2026/
• The Guardian review: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/mar/11/how-to-make-a-killing-review-one-man-on-a-bloody-quest-for-his-inheritance
• Financial Times review: https://www.ft.com/content/c073bbed-2481-4c55-8833-cf85676064f6
• TechRadar review: https://www.techradar.com/streaming/entertainment/how-to-make-a-killing-review
• Film Music Reporter soundtrack note: https://filmmusicreporter.com/2026/02/19/how-to-make-a-killing-soundtrack-album-details/