A24's The Drama debuts

A24’s *The Drama* opened nationwide on April 3 and brought Zendaya and Robert Pattinson into theaters together for a dark wedding-week story. (a24films.com) A24 bills the film as the story of “a happily engaged couple” whose wedding week goes off the rails after an unexpected turn. Kristoffer Borgli wrote and directed it, and the listed cast includes Alana Haim and Mamoudou Athie alongside Zendaya and Pattinson. (a24films.com) The release went out wide in 3,087 theaters, carried an R rating, and ran 1 hour 45 minutes. Box Office Mojo lists a $14.38 million domestic opening weekend and $26.23 million worldwide through its first frame. (boxofficemojo.com) The early write-ups did not treat it like a standard romantic comedy. Deadline called it an “anti-romcom,” while ABC described it as a dark rom-com built around the gap between the movie’s glossy setup and Borgli’s harsher turn underneath. (deadline.com) (abc.net.au) That framing fits Borgli’s recent run. His own site says his first English-language feature, *Dream Scenario*, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2023 after his Norwegian feature *Sick of Myself* screened in Un Certain Regard at Cannes in 2022. (kristofferborgli.com) The movie also lands at a moment when A24 is still using stars to sell stranger material than a studio-style date movie usually promises. The studio’s app page tied opening weekend to a free ticket offer for AAA24 members and listed the film at 105 minutes. (app.a24films.com) Review aggregation suggests critics were warmer than unanimous. Rotten Tomatoes says the film’s reviews are positive overall, while Metacritic lists the title on its review-tracking page with a mixed-to-positive critical spread. (rottentomatoes.com) (metacritic.com) The sales pitch leaned hard on secrecy. A24’s official synopsis stays broad, and several reviews noted that the marketing concealed major plot turns beyond the wedding-week premise. (a24films.com) (deadline.com) For now, the clearest takeaway is that *The Drama* arrived as a mid-budget A24 release with two marquee stars, a nationwide launch, and a first weekend big enough to put it in the domestic top tier without turning it into a conventional crowd-pleaser. (boxofficemojo.com) (deadline.com)