Glen Powell Goes Lethal for $28 Billion in A24’s How to Make a Killing Trailer
Fresh off The Running Man, Glen Powell barrels into A24’s darkly comic thriller How to Make a Killing, unleashing Becket Redfellow — a broke, embittered family outcast — in a just-dropped trailer that’s already lighting up feeds.
Glen Powell is not slowing down. Fresh off making noise with The Running Man, he pops up in A24's darkly funny thriller How to Make a Killing looking like a movie star who just remembered he has teeth. The first trailer is out, and it is unapologetically nasty in a very entertaining way.
The hook
Powell plays Becket Redfellow, the bitter, broke black sheep orbiting a family fortune that clocks in around $28 billion. He was cut off at birth, ignored for years, and now he has decided the money should still be his. The only obstacle between Becket and the inheritance? The entire Redfellow clan.
Enter Margaret Qualley, who glides through a scene and drops a line that lands like a dare:
"Call me when you have killed them all."
Becket takes it literally. From there the trailer kicks into chaos: relatives vanish off yachts, gunshots ring across sprawling estates, and yes, a bow and arrow makes a cameo. A24 leans hard into that signature blend of dread and deadpan, with Powell playing a guy who treats murder like a savvy investment strategy.
That familiar vibe, but meaner
If you get Knives Out flashbacks, you are not alone. Powell is channeling a slick, smirking energy that is very Ransom Drysdale-adjacent, except Becket is not pretending to be innocent. He is perfectly upfront about wanting to 'prune the family tree.' This is not a whodunit; it is more of a how-far-will-he-go, and the trailer makes the ride look wickedly fun.
What the story is actually doing
Underneath the body count, there is a personal revenge engine. Becket is the son of an heiress who died with nothing, and he is convinced the dynasty stole the life that should have been his. The movie frames each suspicious 'accident' as a blend of shock and gallows humor, while also threading in Becket's relationships: a girlfriend named Ruth who does not care about money and a flirty figure from his past named Julia. So it is not just schemes and set pieces; there is messy history baked in.
Who is behind it (and how it got here)
How to Make a Killing comes from writer-director John Patton Ford, whose Emily the Criminal was a tense little pressure cooker. The cast is stacked: Powell, Qualley, Ed Harris, Jessica Henwick, Zach Woods, and Topher Grace all show up in the carnage.
The project has had a long road. Ford's script first landed on the 2014 Black List under the title Rothchild, and it nods directly to Robert Hamer's 1949 British classic Kind Hearts and Coronets, which also followed a man picking off relatives to move up the inheritance ladder. StudioCanal financed, with Graham Broadbent, Peter Czernin, and Adam Friedlander producing.
Quick facts
- Title: How to Make a Killing
- Star: Glen Powell as Becket Redfellow
- Director/Writer: John Patton Ford (Emily the Criminal)
- Cast: Margaret Qualley, Ed Harris, Jessica Henwick, Zach Woods, Topher Grace
- Premise: Disowned heir decides the family fortune is his and starts removing the competition, one 'accident' at a time
- Inspiration: The 2014 Black List script (then titled Rothchild), influenced by 1949's Kind Hearts and Coronets
- Financing/Producers: StudioCanal; produced by Graham Broadbent, Peter Czernin, Adam Friedlander
- Release date: February 20, 2026 (in theaters)
The takeaway
This looks like Powell in full charismatic menace mode, with A24 sharpening every joke on the same blade it uses for the kills. If the movie sticks the landing, we might be talking about the most entertaining family reunion from hell in a long while. How to Make a Killing hits theaters February 20, 2026.