Paramount Pictures releases the official trailer for Primate

Primate is the upcoming horror film that had its world premiere at the Fantastic Fest on September 18, 2025.

Written by Johannes Roberts and Ernest Riera, the film is directed by Roberts and produced by Bradley Pilz, Walter Hamada, and John Hodges. Paramount Pictures will be releasing the film on January 9, 2026. Here's its official synopsis as per Letterboxd:

"Home from college, Lucy reunites with family including pet chimp Ben. Ben contracts rabies during a pool party and turns aggressive. Lucy and friends barricade in pool, devising ways to survive the vicious chimp."

Now that Paramount Pictures has released the official trailer of the film, here's all we know about the storyline.

What is Primate all about?

Primate follows Lucy, who moves back home to be with her family members. There, she realizes that they have adopted a chimpanzee called Ben. While initially apprehensive, Lucy eventually gets along with Ben. One night, she throws a pool party for her friends. Around that time, Ben is bitten by a rabid creature. This leads to him contracting rabies, and he becomes aggressive. As he starts attacking everyone, Lucy and her friends try to find ways to stop him.

The film's trailer begins with happy moments of Lucy coming home and trying to adjust to Ben's presence. But things take a turn when he becomes rabid and starts attacking.

The cast members of Primate include,

Johnny Sequoyah as Lucy
Gia Hunter as Erin
Troy Kotsur as Adam
Victoria Wyant as Kate
Benjamin Cheng as Nick
Miguel Torres Umba as Ben
Charlie Mann as Drew
Jessica Alexander as Hannah
Tienne Simon

In a Collider interview, director Johannes Roberts spoke about giving the chimp a character instead of making him an out-and-out villain.

"It has been something where we've created the movie, and in directing the movie and then in actually editing, and holding that balance, where you get involved with the hatred. You need to be scared, but also there needs to be a sympathy and an empathy. The Cujo thing, the element of that was definitely the family, and then the bond with the family."

"It opens at full throttle, but then we take our time after that to create that sort of family element, and I think that that is key to then not just making it about kills, kills, kills, kills, and that strength there. Then, to me, it was: give him personality, and if he has personality, like if he is the Freddy Krueger of chimps, then great."

Primate will hit the theatres on January 9, 2026.