# The Room
**The Room** is a 2003 American independent drama written, directed, produced, and financed by [Tommy Wiseau](https://www.edgepedia.org/tommy-wiseau), who also stars as Johnny, a San Francisco banker whose fiancée, Lisa ([Juliette Danielle](https://www.edgepedia.org/juliette-danielle)), begins an affair with his best friend, Mark ([Greg Sestero](https://www.edgepedia.org/greg-sestero)). Made for a reported $6 million without studio support, it was a critical and commercial failure on release and has since become one of the most prominent cult films in modern cinema, celebrated in participatory midnight screenings worldwide.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/62884-THE-ROOM) • [2](https://www.kinoafisha.info/en/movies/8354023/) • [3](https://www.mplus.org.hk/en/cinema/stair-in-the-dark-laughing-matters/the-room/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | Opened in two Los Angeles cinemas on 27 June 2003; 99 minutes, rated R[4](https://intensitiescultmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/j-macdowell-j-zborowski-the-aesthetics-of-so-bad-its-good1.pdf) • [1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/62884-THE-ROOM) |
| Budget | Reported at $6 million, self-financed by Wiseau[2](https://www.kinoafisha.info/en/movies/8354023/) • [5](https://openjournals.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/kinema/article/download/1234/1557/2844) |
| Initial gross | About $1,900 over a two-week Los Angeles run; Box Office Mojo records $182,423 for the original release and $5,335,206 lifetime worldwide, mostly from later re-releases[6](https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/bitstreams/1b959139-b8d6-4b21-bcbe-c156529af5e9/download) • [7](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0368226/) |
| Principal cast | Tommy Wiseau (Johnny), Juliette Danielle (Lisa), Greg Sestero (Mark), Philip Haldiman (Denny), Carolyn Minnott (Claudette)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/62884-THE-ROOM) |
| Reputation | Called "the Citizen Kane of bad movies" by Entertainment Weekly[8](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-05/the-room-tommy-wiseau-worst-film-ever-made-endures/9223516) |
| Screening rituals | Audiences throw plastic spoons, toss footballs, shout lines at the screen, and dress as characters[3](https://www.mplus.org.hk/en/cinema/stair-in-the-dark-laughing-matters/the-room/) |
| Legacy | Inspired *The Disaster Artist* (2017), which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay[3](https://www.mplus.org.hk/en/cinema/stair-in-the-dark-laughing-matters/the-room/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and production
The film follows Johnny, a successful banker living happily in a San Francisco townhouse with his fiancée Lisa. Lisa inexplicably becomes bored with him and seduces his best friend Mark, and Johnny's life unravels as the affair proceeds; the story ends with Johnny's suicide.[2](https://www.kinoafisha.info/en/movies/8354023/) • [8](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-05/the-room-tommy-wiseau-worst-film-ever-made-endures/9223516)
**A single-source production.** Tommy Wiseau (born 1955 in Poland) served as the film's writer, director, producer, executive producer, and lead actor, and financed it himself; the scholar Rod Stoneman, formerly Director of the Irish Film Board and a professor at the National University of Ireland Galway, notes that the film "emanates from a single source" and, like other self-publishing, encountered no editorial response or test screenings before release.[5](https://openjournals.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/kinema/article/download/1234/1557/2844) • [9](https://worldhistoryproject.org/2005/2/19/the-room-a-film-by-tommy-wiseau-released-worldwide/) According to a GradeSaver study guide, Wiseau first wrote the story as a play in 2001, then adapted it into a book of nearly 500 pages, and finally into a film he financed himself to avoid creative conflicts; he reportedly filmed simultaneously with both a digital camera and a 35mm camera, built sets that were not needed, and required extensive reshooting after flubbing his own lines.[10](https://www.gradesaver.com/the-room-2003-film/study-guide/directors-influence)
The marketing presented the film as serious drama. Early promotional materials carried the tagline "A film with the passion of Tennesee Williams", with the playwright's name misspelled; a large billboard featuring Wiseau's face stood in Los Angeles from 2003 to 2008, well after the film's reputation had spread.[11](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-room/details/) • [12](https://www.ohiocomm.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Foy-OCJ-2017.pdf)
## Release and reception
The Room opened on 27 June 2003 in just two cinemas in Los Angeles, promoted with a campaign promising "the passion of Tennessee Williams" and free soundtrack CDs for ticket buyers.[4](https://intensitiescultmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/j-macdowell-j-zborowski-the-aesthetics-of-so-bad-its-good1.pdf) • [6](https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/bitstreams/1b959139-b8d6-4b21-bcbe-c156529af5e9/download) The initial reaction was poor. *Variety* described the film as "so hopelessly amateurish that auds [sic] reportedly walked out", and it was quickly dismissed hyperbolically as "the worst film ever made"; audiences at the premiere reportedly laughed at the melodrama and asked for their money back within half an hour.[5](https://openjournals.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/kinema/article/download/1234/1557/2844) • [6](https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/bitstreams/1b959139-b8d6-4b21-bcbe-c156529af5e9/download) The two-week Los Angeles run grossed about $1,900 against the $6 million budget.[6](https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/bitstreams/1b959139-b8d6-4b21-bcbe-c156529af5e9/download)
Critics and viewers have cataloged its shortcomings: cringe-worthy acting, tone-deaf dialogue, out-of-focus shots, dialogue out of sync, characters throwing a football for no reason, and subplots introduced and abandoned, including a breast cancer storyline and a drug subplot.[8](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-05/the-room-tommy-wiseau-worst-film-ever-made-endures/9223516) [Entertainment Weekly](https://www.edgepedia.org/entertainment-weekly)'s label "the Citizen Kane of bad movies" became the film's most quoted description.[8](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-05/the-room-tommy-wiseau-worst-film-ever-made-endures/9223516) Wiseau has consistently insisted the film's humor is intentional, describing it as a black comedy, though cast members have publicly disputed this and audiences generally treat it as a poorly made drama.[9](https://worldhistoryproject.org/2005/2/19/the-room-a-film-by-tommy-wiseau-released-worldwide/)
## Cult following and audience participation
**From failure to ritual.** After the film was pulled from theaters due to low ticket sales, cult midnight showings began, and fan demand led to a DVD release in 2005, coinciding with the launch of YouTube; clip compilations spread the film's reputation to people who had never attended a screening.[13](https://time.com/4093384/james-franco-seth-rogen-the-room/) • [14](https://www.uow.edu.au/media/2023/you-can-love-something-deep-inside-your-heart-and-there-is-nothing-wrong-with-it-why-we-still-love-the-room-20-yearson.php) Monthly screenings took root in Los Angeles and spread to other American cities and abroad; cinemas such as the Prince Charles in London provided "viewing guides" telling costume-clad audiences what to shout or throw and when, and most attendees brought their own plastic spoons, thrown at the screen whenever a spoon appears in the film's framed pictures.[14](https://www.uow.edu.au/media/2023/you-can-love-something-deep-inside-your-heart-and-there-is-nothing-wrong-with-it-why-we-still-love-the-room-20-yearson.php) • [15](https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2018/02/28/the-room-which-inspired-oscar-nom-disaster-artist-a-boon-for-indie-theatres/) Other rituals include shouting "Oh hi Mark!", chanting during a slow pan across the [Golden Gate Bridge](https://www.edgepedia.org/golden-gate-bridge), tossing footballs, and dressing as characters.[4](https://intensitiescultmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/j-macdowell-j-zborowski-the-aesthetics-of-so-bad-its-good1.pdf) • [3](https://www.mplus.org.hk/en/cinema/stair-in-the-dark-laughing-matters/the-room/)
Audience researchers have treated these screenings as a distinct mode of reception. Richard McCulloch, whose audience research on the film's British fan base appeared in the journal *Participations*, argues that participatory behavior transforms an ostensible drama into a comedy experience, with audiences functioning as temporary communities that affirm each other's interpretive competence through shared jokes.[16](https://www.participations.org/08-02-11-mcculloch.pdf) Matt Foy, a communication scholar at [Southern Illinois University Carbondale](https://www.edgepedia.org/southern-illinois-university-carbondale), has studied the screenings ethnographically as embodied audiencing in which fans embrace, embellish, and deviate from fan-generated performance scripts.[17](https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/kaleidoscope/vol11/iss1/2/) The commercial effect is measurable: re-releases have driven the film's lifetime gross to $5,335,206 worldwide, with $4,440,210 of that international, and at Sydney's Hayden Orpheum, after 13 years of monthly screenings, it became the theater's number 4 highest-grossing film.[7](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0368226/) • [18](https://www.orpheum.com.au/movie/room)
## Legacy
The film's creation story became its own cultural product. Greg Sestero co-wrote the 2013 non-fiction book *The Disaster Artist* with Tom Bissell, chronicling the shoot and his friendship with Wiseau, and [James Franco](https://www.edgepedia.org/james-franco) adapted it in 2017 as a comedy in which he played Wiseau and his brother Dave played Sestero; the film earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.[13](https://time.com/4093384/james-franco-seth-rogen-the-room/) • [3](https://www.mplus.org.hk/en/cinema/stair-in-the-dark-laughing-matters/the-room/) Wiseau continues to tour with in-person screenings, and the film remains in regular theatrical rotation more than two decades after its release.[19](https://princecharlescinema.com/film/11449221/the-room-with-tommy-wiseau-live-on-stage/) • [20](https://theroommovie.com/)
## References
1. [The Room (2003), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/62884-THE-ROOM)
2. [The Room (2003), Kinoafisha](https://www.kinoafisha.info/en/movies/8354023/)
3. [The Room, M+ Museum cinema programme](https://www.mplus.org.hk/en/cinema/stair-in-the-dark-laughing-matters/the-room/)
4. [MacDowell, J. and Zborowski, J., "The Aesthetics of 'So Bad It's Good'", Intensities](https://intensitiescultmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/j-macdowell-j-zborowski-the-aesthetics-of-so-bad-its-good1.pdf)
5. [Stoneman, R., "Inside The Room and Beyond", Kinema, Fall 2011](https://openjournals.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/kinema/article/download/1234/1557/2844)
6. [Buzz Bombs: The Room, Snakes on a Plane and Cult Audiences in the Internet Era, Georgia State University ScholarWorks](https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/bitstreams/1b959139-b8d6-4b21-bcbe-c156529af5e9/download)
7. [The Room (2003), Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0368226/)
8. [The Room: Why the worst film ever made is still pulling in audiences worldwide, ABC News (2017)](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-05/the-room-tommy-wiseau-worst-film-ever-made-endures/9223516)
9. [The Room, a Film by Tommy Wiseau, Released Worldwide, World History Project](https://worldhistoryproject.org/2005/2/19/the-room-a-film-by-tommy-wiseau-released-worldwide/)
10. [Director's Influence on The Room (2003 Film), GradeSaver](https://www.gradesaver.com/the-room-2003-film/study-guide/directors-influence)
11. [The Room details, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-room/details/)
12. [Foy, M., Ohio Communication Journal, Volume 55 (2017)](https://www.ohiocomm.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Foy-OCJ-2017.pdf)
13. [James Franco and Seth Rogen Are Taking on The Room, TIME (2015)](https://time.com/4093384/james-franco-seth-rogen-the-room/)
14. [Why we still love The Room, 20 years on, University of Wollongong (2023)](https://www.uow.edu.au/media/2023/you-can-love-something-deep-inside-your-heart-and-there-is-nothing-wrong-with-it-why-we-still-love-the-room-20-yearson.php)
15. [The Room, which inspired Oscar nom Disaster Artist, a boon for indie theatres, CityNews Vancouver (2018)](https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2018/02/28/the-room-which-inspired-oscar-nom-disaster-artist-a-boon-for-indie-theatres/)
16. [McCulloch, R., "'Most People Bring Their Own Spoons': The Room's participatory audiences as comedy mediators", Participations 8(2), 2011](https://www.participations.org/08-02-11-mcculloch.pdf)
17. [Foy, M., "The Performance Cult of The Room", Kaleidoscope, Vol. 11 (2012)](https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/kaleidoscope/vol11/iss1/2/)
18. [The Room, Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace](https://www.orpheum.com.au/movie/room)
19. [The Room with Tommy Wiseau live on stage, The Prince Charles Cinema](https://princecharlescinema.com/film/11449221/the-room-with-tommy-wiseau-live-on-stage/)
20. [The Room official movie site, Wiseau-Films](https://theroommovie.com/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 2000s › Romantic drama films 2000s*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license