Maybe The Weeknd’s New Thriller With Jenna Ortega & Barry Keoghan Can Save Lionsgate?

A studio that is in desperate need of a hit might have just landed a big one: Lionsgate has seen a string of flops this year alone, all the expensive variety, but the studio is hoping to turn its fortunes around by teaming up with three of the biggest stars working today – The Weeknd, Jenna Ortega, and Barry Keoghan.

Per Variety, Lionsgate has landed worldwide theatrical distribution rights to Hurry Up Tomorrow, a film described as a “musically driven psychological thriller” starring Abel Tesfaye, otherwise known as The Weeknd, Ortega, and Keoghan. The film marks The Weeknd’s feature debut as an actor, and it’s directed by Trey Edward Shults, who earned critical acclaim for his film Waves – a film that also relied heavily on music to propel its narrative. When Hurry Up Tomorrowwas announced last year, it was said to be based on an idea from The Weeknd, with Shults doing work on the screenplay.

The project is also intended to be a companion piece or extension of an upcoming album of the same name from The Weeknd. The album’s release date has yet to be disclosed, but it will also work in conjunction with the film’s score, which was composed by The Weeknd and Daniel Lopatin. The Weeknd is also on board as a producer through his Manic Phase banner, alongside Reza Fahim, Harrison Kreiss, and the late Kevin Turen, all of whom previously backed the controversial HBO series The Idol.

Lionsgate Motion Picture Group chair Adam Fogelson has this to say about landing Hurry Up Tomorrow:

“Abel is a visionary whose are cannot be confined by any single medium. With Hurry Up Tomorrow, in partnership with Trey, his musical universe expands onto the big screen with a psychological thriller that will usher in a new cinematic experience for fans. We are thrilled to be bringing it to audiences worldwide.”

Lionsgate Is in Desperate Need of a Hit

Lionsgate really needs this one to work because its track record as of late has not been so hot after a slew of dismal box-office performers. The duds began with Borderlands over the summer and continued soon after with The Crow reboot, 1992, Never Let Go, The Killer’s Game, Megalopolis, and White Bird. That’s seven consecutive financial misfires in a row released between August and October. While not all of those releases had astronomical budgets, each one represents a loss in some way for the studio and doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in some of Lionsgate’s upcoming releases.

There is a good news/bad news scenario with The Weeknd’s latest project. On the one hand, his music is very popular, and he has sold more than 75 million albums worldwide. Connecting the film to an album release, which is set to complete a trilogy of records that began with 2020’s After Hours and 2022’s Dawn FM, could lead to solid cross promotion. On the other hand, The Weeknd’s other acting credit was for HBO’s The Idol, a show he co-created and starred in with Lily-Rose Depp in 2023. The series was almost universally panned by critics after undergoing several creative overhauls, and the ratings weren’t all that great, either. As an actor, The Weeknd is a gamble, but this next project does have the assist of Ortega and Keoghan, with the former being a growing bona fide box office star and the latter proving to be one of the best actors of his generation.

Shults is also a talent to watch, with his 2019 film Waves earning glowing reviews for his direction and cinematography. Before that, he directed A24’s underrated 2017 horror film It Comes at Night. While the film wasn’t a huge box office success, the project also earned high praise from critics for Shults’ eye behind the camera. Hurry Up Tomorrow could be the perfect-storm kind of hit that Lionsgate needs right now. If that doesn’t work, the studio still has the Michael Jackson biopic, Michael, on deck, as well as the John Wick spin-off Ballerina, and Now You See Me 3.

If nothing else, 2025 is bound to be brighter for Lionsgate than 2024.