For every unexpected blockbuster like Backrooms, which is breaking box-office records in its debut weekend, there is an unfortunate counterpart that must settle for future cult status. The cult hit of 2026 has already been crowned, and it’s doing tremendously well on the PVOD market even as movies like Backrooms and Obsession break through the clutter to achieve box-office success. In a way, the year 2026 will be seen as a pivotal period in the history of Hollywood, where a contingent of new filmmakers took over the baton from giants who’ve dominated the industry for decades. What else can explain Backrooms, which cost less than $10 million to produce, delivering a domestic debut in the same range as Christopher Nolan‘s Oppenheimer? It’s a figure that even Steven Spielberg will find impossible to surpass with Disclosure Day in a few weeks.
Spielberg, Nolan, and Denis Villeneuve aren’t the only mavericks who are eying theatrical success this year. Some months ago, director Gore Verbinski made his directorial comeback after a decade with a movie so strange that the only logical outcome for it was flopping at the box office and promptly establishing itself as a niche oddity at home. Verbinski, who achieved culture-defining success in the 2000s with his Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy and won an Oscar with the brilliant animated movie Rango, was sent to solitary in director jail following two back-to-back underperformers. In 2016, he directed the psychological horror movie A Cure for Wellness, which failed to recoup its reported $40 million budget. But it was the infamous, Disney-damning failure of The Lone Ranger that caused the most damage to his reputation.
A Sci-Fi Gem for the Ages Is Waiting to Be Discovered at Home
Verbinski’s latest movie is<em>Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die</em> — a highly topical sci-fi gem in which a time traveler from the future recruits the patrons of a diner to fight a war against artificial intelligence with him. The moviegrossed roughly half of its reported $20 million budget at the box office, despite a “Certified Fresh” 81% score on Rotten Tomatoes. The aggregator website’s consensus reads, “A gleeful high-concept comedy with a serious message at its core,Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die lets Sam Rockwell rip with thrilling results while marking a very welcome return of director Gore Verbinski in peak form.” In his review, Collider’sAidan Kelley described the movie as “a raucous sci-fi comedy with extremely ambitious goals and insightful commentary.” The film’s positive reviews seem to be fulfilling their purpose and driving audiences toward it on PVOD. According to FlixPatrol,Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die has nowspent more than 60 days on the domestic iTunes and Google Play charts. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
- Release Date
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February 13, 2026
- Runtime
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134 Minutes
- Director
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Gore Verbinski
- Writers
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Matthew Robinson
- Producers
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Erwin Stoff, Oly Obst, Robert Kulzer
