Dave Franco’s Horror Flick Is Now the Second Oregon-Made Movie to Top the Box Office During the Pandemic

For the second time since quarantine, an Oregon-made production is the No. 1 movie in the country.

The Rental—Dave Franco's directorial debut about an Oregon Coast vacation gone wrong—topped box offices this weekend with $421,000, Deadline reported. In the movie, two couples (including a duo played by GLOW's Alison Brie and Downton Abbey's Dan Stevens) rent an Airbnb for a vacation that becomes increasingly sinister. The horror flick was filmed in Bandon, Ore., last year.

IFC acquired the rights to The Rental last spring with plans to release the film during the shutdown. It's now playing at drive-ins around the country and available to rent on Amazon Prime and YouTube.

To be sure, The Rental's place at the top of the box office has a lot to do with the lack of big releases during the pandemic—its closest competitors are catalog titles like The Karate Kid and reigning Oregon coast classic The Goonies.

But it follows the even more surprising success of Phoenix, Oregon—a small, Klamath Falls-filmed production about two men restoring an old bowling alley—which topped the box office in April.

So far, the movie has received lukewarm to positive reviews. Wired call it a "lean little thriller with uncommonly strong performances, and it's the perfect thing to watch on a summer night when you know you're going to fall asleep before the credits." The New York Times took a slightly more critical stance, claiming that Mina, played by A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night star Sheila Vand, is the "the only interesting character onscreen."