“The Moment” is pop artist Charli XCX’s first step into the film industry. It is a satire, mockumentary-style movie revolving around Charli XCX that was released on Jan. 23, 2026, premiering at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. The film received mediocre reviews after it was released to the public on Jan. 30, 2026, with an average Rotten Tomatoes audience score of 67% and a critic score of 66%. It was directed by Aiden Zamiri, who co-wrote it with Bertie Brandes, inspired by Charli XCX’s original idea, in collaboration with A24. The film wasn’t welcomed with too much excitement, with the first official trailer only getting 25.1k+ views on YouTube, and the follow-up trailer released 2 months later only gathering 6.9k views, despite it being posted on a channel with 1.48 million subscribers. The lackluster reception to the trailers and movie came as a surprise, as the movie has a strong cast, as Charli herself averages 34.8 million monthly listeners on Spotify alone. 

  Production of “The Moment” began very quickly after the draft by Zamiri and Brandes was greenlit in early 2025, with a $4 million budget. By March of 2025, The Moment was already filming in London. The motivation behind Charli’s original writing for her film comes from her feelings about her sudden boom in popularity in the summer of 2024, which iconically featured the global phenomenon, “brat summer.” After 15 years of work, she was thriving, but the movie explores how, even now she can feel it all slipping away. When the movie hit theaters, it was only shown in 4 locations and, at its peak, was shown in 1,119 theaters globally. “The Moment” made $5 million at the box office, just barely making a profit.

  With “The Moment” being a mockumentary-style movie, Charli plays a fictional version of herself instead of following the Pop Star to movie pipeline pioneered by her predecessors like Taylor Swift, Jennifer Lopez, and Lady GaGa. Her movie is a deviation from the typical movies about celebrities that are either concert-type movies where the artist’s tour is recorded and played on the big screen like Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour or biopics, showing behind-the-scenes into the celebrities’ lives like “In Bed With Madonna”. 

  The movie centers around Charli and her struggles in the industry after the success of her album “Brat”. In September of 2024, after the success of “brat summer,” Charli and her team prepared for her debut arena tour. For the sake of profit, Charli’s label pushes for the commercialization of “Brat,” much to her frustration. She is put into brand deals she doesn’t want and is told by her label to keep “Brat” going forever. One major brand deal in the movie is a deal with a failing bank named Howard Stirling, where fans can get free tickets to the tour if they sign up. Throughout the movie, Charli’s creative freedom and spirit are diminished for the sake of profit and reaching a wider audience. This change is led by Johannes Godwin, played by Alexander Skargard, who is her tour director that tries to rebrand “Brat” into a family-friendly experience against Charli’s original vision. After clashes between Charli’s friend, Celeste, the tour’s creative director, played by Hailey Benton Gates, and Godwin, Celeste loses creative control of the tour before ultimately being fired for voicing her concerns about Charli. With the tension weighing on her, Charli decides to post on social media, endorsing the brand deal with the bank. During one of her tour rehearsals, Charli’s legal team lets her know that her post falsely advertised the benefits of the card, leading some of her fans to commit fraud and ultimately bankrupting the bank. In light of the backlash she receives, Charli completely disappears. After not hearing from her for days, Charli’s team fears she’s dead and goes to look for her and finds that she was just taking another break. In the face of all the stress and controversy around her, she decides to go through with doing the tour Godwin’s way in hopes that it will kill “Brat” and allow her to move on with her life.

  The core message throughout the movie is the importance of moving on and letting go of things. Even if they seem impossible to let go of, it’s important to grow and be able to live your life. This setting and topic of the film reflects Charli’s opinions on her own career and the difficulty of navigating life after such a monumental success.