LOS ANGELES, April 29, 2026, 05:08 PDT
- Universal’s One Night Only showed new first-look images Tuesday, pushing Will Gluck’s high-concept romantic comedy closer to its Aug. 7 theatrical release.
- Monica Barbaro and Callum Turner star as two strangers in a New York where single people can have sex on only one night each year.
- The film gives Universal another test of whether theatrical rom-coms can still travel, after Gluck’s Anyone But You became a $220 million global box-office hit.
Universal Pictures’ One Night Only moved into sharper view Tuesday with first-look images of Monica Barbaro and Callum Turner in Will Gluck’s new romantic comedy, a film built around one blunt rule: premarital sex is illegal except for a 12-hour window each year.
The timing matters because studios are still sorting out how much room remains for mid-budget romantic comedies in theaters. Gluck has recent proof of life in the genre: Anyone But You, released by Sony in 2023, grossed $220.3 million worldwide, including $88.3 million in North America, according to Box Office Mojo.
Universal has dated One Night Only for Aug. 7, putting it in a late-summer corridor that also has Super Troopers 3, Fall 2 and Ice Cream Man listed for the same date. That makes the film not just a dating comedy but a test of counter-programming against sequels and genre titles.
The film stars Barbaro as Allie and Turner as Owen, two people left adrift in an “ever-so-slightly fictionalized New York City,” as Universal domestic distribution president Jim Orr described it in CinemaCon material. Orr called the movie a “fresh, funny, swoony” original about love on “the least romantic night of the year.” CinemaCon 2026
In the story, unmarried people are allowed to have sex from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. the next day. Gluck told Entertainment Weekly the reason for the law has faded from memory — “No one remembers” — and said the movie is “less about the act” than the chase around it. Ew
That chase starts badly for both leads. Allie’s friend quickly pairs off with someone else, while Owen is abandoned by his girlfriend as he is preparing to propose, leaving the two strangers to move through a chaotic New York night together.
Barbaro told Entertainment Weekly the premise is a heightened story about dating rather than sex, calling it an “allegory for dating.” Turner, describing the pull between the two characters, said the night keeps forcing Owen and Allie back into each other’s path. Ew
The cast also includes Molly Ringwald, LeVar Burton, Maya Hawke, Julia Fox and Este Haim, widening the film beyond a two-hander while keeping the central hook on Barbaro and Turner. The Playlist reported the first-look images include Turner’s character working in a New York pizza shop.
The project comes from Travis Braun’s One Night Only script, which topped the 2024 Black List, an annual ranking of Hollywood’s most-liked unproduced screenplays. The Black List archive lists Braun’s script as the 2024 entry.
The movie has drawn quick comparisons to The Purge, the horror franchise built around one night when crime is legal. MovieWeb and ScreenRant both framed the new stills around that idea, while Gluck has tried to narrow the comparison, saying the film is not built around explicit spectacle.
The risk is that the hook may outrun the film. A premise that sounds like “The Purge for sex” can sell fast online, but it could also mislabel a movie Gluck and Barbaro are pitching as a more conventional story about connection, loneliness and timing. Ew
For Universal, the bet is straightforward enough: put recognizable young leads, a proven rom-com director and a loud premise into theaters before summer ends. Whether audiences treat One Night Only as a date movie, a sex comedy or just another high-concept studio play will be clearer when it opens Aug. 7.
