The Nagging Thought That Haunts Pattinson’s ‘Primetime’

Disney is too big to fail, but not so big that it avoids the occasional mistake.

• “Snow White”
• “Lightyear”
• “The Marvels”

’nuff said. And no studio is perfect. Yet one of the Mouse House’s biggest blunders came courtesy of a film it never released.

“Sound of Freedom.”

Disney once held the rights to the fact-based tale tied to child sex trafficking. The company refused to let it grace theaters. A key player behind the movie told the press that Disney said it wasn’t “right for us.”

Angel Studios eventually swooped in and bought the film rights, years after its completion. The title became one of 2023’s biggest sleeper hits. “Sound of Freedom” earned $184 million stateside, more than “Fast X,” “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” and “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning.”

Did the film’s subject matter give Disney pause? You’d have to be a spy on the walls of Mouse, Inc. to know for sure.

We do know the media savaged the film, an unprofessional line of attack that ignored how the film raised awareness of child sex trafficking.

Weird. Which brings us to “Primetime.”

Robert Pattinson plays real-life journalist Chris Hansen, who helped corral child predators via his “To Catch a Predator” NBC program from 2004-2007.

The film has generated some rave reviews and looks to make roughly $20 million in its opening frame. It might even factor in the year’s Oscar race.

Yet the movie takes a quizzocal stance on Hansen and his show’s handiwork.

RELATED: ‘PRIMETIME’ MOVIE REVIEW

“Primetime” is unabashedly one-dimensional in its critique of “To Catch a Predator.” Pattinson’s Hansen is a vain, selfish jerk who even exposes his young children to his show in one awful sequence.

You have to strain to see any redeeming qualities in his on-screen character.

Is the real Chris Hansen a vainglorious jerk? Maybe. Who knows? That approach still doesn’t make for a compelling story. Plus, why would the creative team behind “Primetime” go out of its way to suggest he is?

And it’s not just Hansen who comes off poorly. His investigative teammates aren’t much better. They’re creepy, aggressive and far too eager for fame.

The “Predator” TV template invites criticism. Are these journalists profiting off the misery of others? Is this essentially entrapment, not merely tabloid journalism?

Is there a better way to get child predators off of the street?

“Primetime” could have wrestled with these themes while exploring Hansen’s connection to them. That’s not what happens on screen.

I think we all know what the point of it was. https://t.co/KZa8g2Ca6Y

— Josh Daws (@JoshDaws) September 26, 2026

Why would a major motion picture go out of its way to turn someone who helped catch child predators into the story’s villain? Meanwhile, there’s little to no effort to dramatize just how cruel and dehumanizing the predators’ handiwork is.

One of the child predators caught in Hansen’s web uses crutches to walk, a sympathetic visual.

That’s a choice.

Hollywood has been targeted in recent years by claims of child grooming behind the scenes. Think the details shared by former child actor Corey Feldman, along with the tragic death of fellow kid star Corey Haim in 2010.

Haim said he had been sexually assaulted during his first years in Hollywood. Feldman, a longtime friend of the late actor, backed up those claims.

“I can tell you that the No. 1 problem in Hollywood was and is and always will be pedophilia. That’s the biggest problem for children in this industry. … It’s the big secret,” the actor said in a 2011 “Nightline” interview.

“Lord of the Rings” alum Elijah Wood similarly cautioned child actors about predators lurking behind the Hollywood scenes. Director Bryan Singer of “Bohemian Rhapsody” fame was also hit with sexual abuse allegations in 2019, including alleged victims who were underage at the time.

Rumors run wild in Western culture today, and fears of child sex predators in Hollywood quickly take hold in our conspiratorial culture. Facts matter. Caution should always be deployed in such cases.

Yet films like “Primetime,” and the weird reception given to “Sound of Freedom,” hardly help.