Dave Franco is back in a second official trailer for Idiots, the Macon Blair comedy that IFC released on August 13, 2026. The new push arrives just ahead of the film’s August 28 U.S. theatrical release, giving the marketing campaign a short runway to reset attention after Sundance.
Macon Blair’s 98-minute rollout
Idiots premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival under the title The Sh&theads before the film was retitled Idiots for release. Blair directed and wrote the screenplay, which is based on a story by Blair and Alex Orr, and the film runs 98 mins. That title switch is the kind of branding move distributors use when a festival name has done its job but a cleaner commercial label is better for theaters.
Dave Franco and O'Shea Jackson Jr. play two unqualified bozos hired to transfer a spoiled, rich problematic teen named Sheridan to rehab, and Mason Thames plays Sheridan. IFC’s decision to surface another trailer now is less about introducing the movie than about sharpening the sell: the setup is simple, the chaos escalates quickly, and the film is being positioned as a comedy that moves from premise to mayhem without much delay.
Dave Franco and O'Shea Jackson Jr.
The trailer language leans into that pitch. One description calls the film a “raucous and wildly entertaining descent into madness,” while another says, “Just be warned - this movie is extra dumb!” It also uses the line, “When two unqualified bozos are hired to transfer a rich teen to rehab, their straightforward gig quickly spirals into dangerous mayhem,” which is a straighter version of the same sales hook.
That contradiction is the selling point. Idiots is being marketed as a wild comedy with an intentionally dumb engine, and that framing tells ticket buyers exactly what kind of night this is meant to be. Kiernan Shipka, Nicholas Braun, and Peter Dinklage also star, with Dave Franco listed among the producers, so the film is arriving with enough recognizable names to sell the joke before opening weekend.
August 28 leaves little room for a slow build, so the second trailer is the main sign that IFC wants a wider audience to lock in before the theatrical launch. The unanswered piece is the title change itself: what pushed The Sh&theads and The Shtheads into Idiots is not spelled out, and that branding choice is the one part of the rollout still left for the film to explain with the release itself.
