Hurry Up Tomorrow Movie: Plot, Release, Reviews (2025)

When a global pop star decides to make his own film, the results don’t always follow the script. The Weeknd spent years developing “Hurry Up Tomorrow,” a psychological thriller he co-wrote, produced, and stars in—only to see it become one of 2025’s most debated releases. Critics were harsh, the box office stalled, and the conversation around the film refuses to quiet down.

Director: Trey Edward Shults · Lead Star: The Weeknd (Abel Tesfaye) · Genre: Psychological thriller · Release Year: 2025 · Platform: Apple TV

The table below summarizes key production and release details for the film.

What will the Hurry Up Tomorrow movie be about?

The film centers on Abel Tesfaye, a music superstar performing at a concert who descends into a haze of partying, drug use, and insomnia following a painful breakup. His world fractures further when Anima, an obsessed fan played by Jenna Ortega, commits a disturbing act—setting a house on fire before driving to his Los Angeles show. When Anima strikes Abel unconscious with a champagne bottle, he tumbles into a vivid nightmare sequence that challenges everything he knows about himself.

Plot summary

The narrative unfolds as a psychological odyssey. Abel’s character navigates depression and sleeplessness while a fan’s obsession spirals into violence. The nightmare sequence serves as the film’s emotional core, blending surreal imagery with the protagonist’s fractured psyche. According to the IMDb synopsis, it’s “a journey that challenges everything he knows about himself”—a description that captures the film’s introspective ambitions.

Key characters

• Abel Tesfaye (The Weeknd) — a fictionalized version of the musician as a troubled superstar
• Jenna Ortega — Anima, an obsessed fan whose actions trigger the film’s central nightmare
• Barry Keoghan — supporting cast member in undisclosed role
• Trey Edward Shults — director and co-writer alongside The Weeknd and Reza Fahim

Is Hurry Up Tomorrow a horror movie?

No—while the film ventures into nightmarish territory, it classifies as a psychological thriller rather than horror. Rotten Tomatoes categorizes it as “Mystery & Thriller,” and the MPAA rating (R for language, drug use, bloody violence, and brief nudity) reflects thriller conventions rather than horror’s typical content markers.

Genre breakdown

The film draws from multiple traditions. Critics describe it as a “David Lynchian fever dream” that is “visually marvelous but head-scratching,” according to Metacritic’s aggregate analysis. The nightmare sequence channels surrealist horror aesthetics, but the overall structure follows thriller conventions—a star-driven vanity project that leans on mood over menace.

Thriller elements

• Obsession and stalking undertones through Anima’s storyline
• Drug use and nightlife settings familiar from noir thrillers
• Identity dissolution in Abel’s psychological breakdown
• Violence that punctuates rather than dominates the narrative

Is Hurry Up Tomorrow a good film?

By most critical measures, no. The film earned “Generally Unfavorable” reviews based on 25 critic reviews tracked on Metacritic. The conversation around the film centers less on traditional filmmaking quality and more on whether the star’s creative vision justified the project’s scale.

Critical reception

The criticism was unusually harsh and unified. Nick Schager writing for Fandango called it “a feature-length ego-stroke of monumental hubris that instantly assumes pole position in the race for year’s worst movie.” The AV Club review described it as The Weeknd’s “ghastly vanity project” that “unites critics in disdain.”

Hurry Up Tomorrow is not a movie, nor a feature-length music video, nor a regular-length music video. It is a visual.

— AV Club Reviewer

Audience scores

Rotten Tomatoes displays audience and critic scores separately. While exact audience figures aren’t publicly aggregated in the same way as critic reviews, the film’s theatrical performance ($7.8 million worldwide against a reportedly high production budget) suggests audiences didn’t embrace it either. The disconnect between The Weeknd’s massive music fanbase and box office underperformance indicates either the film didn’t convert fans, or general audiences simply avoided it.

Is the Hurry Up Tomorrow film a true story?

No—it draws from The Weeknd’s life but filters everything through fiction. The musician plays a fictionalized version of himself, which gives the film autobiographical texture without the obligations of documentary accuracy. Producers include The Weeknd, Reza Fahim, Kevin Turen, and Harrison Kreiss, according to Popped Blog.

Fictional basis

The central character shares The Weeknd’s name, face, and career trajectory, but the specific events—the fan violence, the nightmare sequence, the emotional breakdown—dramatize rather than document. The film uses the musician’s public persona as scaffolding for a constructed narrative, similar to how films like “Spun” fictionalize drug experiences without claiming documentary status.

Inspired elements

• Depression and insomnia struggles align with themes in The Weeknd’s music
• The nightlife settings reflect the artist’s known aesthetic
• The companion album connection suggests direct artistic collaboration
• The superstar-with-breakdown premise echoes public narratives around fame

Hurry Up Tomorrow movie where to watch

The theatrical window has closed, and the film moved to premium VOD on June 6, 2025. Apple TV serves as the primary streaming home for the film, according to the official website. As of this writing, the film is not available on Netflix, Hulu, or other major platforms.

Streaming platforms

• Apple TV — primary streaming platform, available for rental/purchase
• Not currently on Netflix
• Not currently on Hulu
• Not currently on Amazon Prime Video
• Premium VOD release date: June 6, 2025

Release availability

The US theatrical run began May 16, 2025, through Lionsgate, grossing $5.2 million domestically and $2.5 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $7.8 million. International digital availability followed the June 6 VOD date. Physical media release (Blu-ray/DVD) has not been announced.

The pattern is unmistakable: the most passionate defenders of the film focus on its visual ambition, while critics of all stripes dismiss its narrative coherence and question whether The Weeknd’s star power justified the project’s scale. This division isn’t unusual for ambitious art films—but the box office numbers ($7.8M worldwide) suggest general audiences never engaged with even the visual argument.

For streaming viewers now considering the film on Apple TV, the context matters: this is a movie that divides critics and underperformed commercially, but retains visual ambition that some viewers might find worth exploring at home. The VOD window removes theatrical pressure and lets viewers judge for themselves—whether as curiosity, completionism, or genuine interest in the music-visual hybrid the film attempts.

Here is a summary of the film’s technical specifications and commercial performance.

The implication: even with Lionsgate’s distribution muscle and The Weeknd’s global brand recognition, the film failed to convert cultural cache into commercial viability.

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