The Last Picture Shows

The Last Picture Shows (2026)

Ten states. 10,825 miles. 123 theaters. In his latest feature The Last Picture Shows, filmmaker Rustin Thompson journeys into the American West on a search for traces of what was once a center of small-town life: the movie theater. On the trip, he finds long abandoned and forgotten cinemas; movie houses that have fallen into disrepair; theaters recently closed, theaters struggling to hold on, and theaters that—thanks to their thoughtful caretakers—are not only surviving but thriving. Between the stops along the way, Rustin poetically intersperses excerpts from Peter Bogdanovich’s 1971 classic film The Last Picture Show, as well as reflections on past and present hardships facing the film exhibition industry. The Last Picture Shows reminds viewers that even in vast cinema deserts, there are oases of community and gathering that remain, where the movie house continues to be a place of wonder, contemplation, and connection.

Date of release
2026-07-05
TMDB
9.0 / 10 (2)
Runtime
1h 18m
Genres
Documentary
Director
Rustin Thompson

Interesting facts

The Last Picture Shows is a 2026 American documentary film about movie theaters in small west American towns, including abandoned theaters, ones that are struggling to survive, and ones that are doing well. Clips from Peter Bogdanovich's film The Last Picture Show (1971) are interspersed in the documentary. It is edited, shot, produced, written, and directed by Rustin Thompson. It premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on February 9, 2026.

Production

The film was shot during two lengthy road trips Thompson took in the summers of 2023 and 2024. He said, "In some cases, I reached out to the owners before I got to the towns, but a lot of times it was hard to get in touch, so I would just show up.

Additional cinematography was provided by Thompson's son, Nick Thompson, the director of the film Skagit.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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