Heated Rivalry is Coming to Spice Up Cinemas

If you missed Heated Rivalry when the first season premiered or you’re dreaming of seeing it on the biggest screen possible, your prayers have been answered. The romance phenomenon, which hasn’t even turned one year old yet, is coming to cinemas. In the U.S.A., Regal will release all six episodes in more than 650 locations nationwide for a limited run, two episodes at a time, beginning November 6 and ending on the 30th.

“When a series connects with audiences the way ‘Heated Rivalry’ has, we look for ways to bring it to the big screen and give fans a reason to experience it together,” Brooks LeBoeuf, senior vice president of U.S. content at Regal, said in a statement (via Variety.) “Nearly a year after its premiere, we’re proud to work with our partners to turn a season fans have watched again and again into a true theatrical event. It’s a chance to celebrate the story, its creators and its performances before Season 2 arrives in 2027.”

It is weird how they have to talk about this as though the show is decades old and not so fresh in our minds that it’s barely a television newborn. But the passage of time means nothing now and when something is hot you have to milk it for all its worth. We’ve seen these actors become megastars in mere months and an entire pop culture ecosystem be spun off from both the show and Rachel Reid’s books. It’s only going to get more intense with season two and Unrivaled, the next book in the series, and now we’re getting movie screenings?

I wonder what the cinematic experience of Heated Rivalry will be. Surely this fandom will be as shy and retiring as usual? I can hear the hooting and hollering already. What will be thrown at the screen, Rocky Horror-style? I imagine this will do gangbusters at the box office. TV screenings in theatres is nothing new. Stranger Things did it. That Christian drama The Chosen releases its feature-length episodes in cinemas all the time, to much success. It does feel indicative of the current state of film that TV is being used as a crutch like this. And the industry still thinks LGBTQ+ doesn’t sell…