NEBRASKA CITY – The screenplay for the comedy Snack Shack was prepared during the Coronavirus pandemic and the finished movie was delayed for release by the first combined strike of writers and actors in 60 years, but Director and writer Adam Rehmeier called it a “love letter to Nebraska City” and sometimes true love has its own pace.

For Rehmeier, who was coming off the fast-paced hit comedy Dinner in America, the wait to show Snack Shack at theaters was painful.

Rehmeier: “I had finished this film on March 10 of last year – that was my last day of production – the film was completely wrapped. The version that you see was finished, really just one year ago. It was a full year wait to get to this point and that was painful.”

The movie opened nationally on Friday, along with Arthur The King, One Life, The American Society of Magical Negroes and the Pastor’s Kid.

 https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Snack-Shack-(2024)#tab=box-office

The Numbers.com says after 3 days of release at 437 theaters, Snack Shack grossed $687 per domestic theater. It was sold out at Nebraska City on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday and had a full house on Sunday. Late night showings Friday and Saturday were well-attended.

The movie announced in September of 2022 that it had hired Conor Sherry, Gabriel LaBelle and Mika Abdalla for lead roles, but it did not head to theaters until 18 months later.

The Writers Guild of America, representing 11,500 screenwriters, went on strike from May 2 to Sept. 27, 2023.

The Screen Actors Guild- American Federation of Television and Radio Artists went on strike July 14, ending just one day before the writers.

A deal that ended the strike provided a minimum wage for broadcast and streaming television and offered protections against Artificial Intelligence replacing writers and actors.

Rehmeier prepared the script during the Covid-19 pandemic, waited for strikes to end and then the Pioneer 3 Theater, where he had planned to premiere the film, closed temporarily in January. Rehmeier described his emotions when everything finally came together in his hometown.

Rehmeier: “It was really the most surreal night of my life to be honest with you – the favorite screening I’ve ever had in my life. I’ve done film festivals all over the world and this one, this  screening on  Wednesday meant the most to me out of anything in my career.”

He said it was important to have it filmed in Nebraska City not just for nostalgia’s sake, but also the movie finances.

Rehmeier: “Beyond the support from Paperclip, T-Street, MRC and Paramount – really to have that support from the city was so important and key to pulling this off and making it look and feel the way I wanted it to feel. Whether it was (Mayor) Bryan Bequette, the city council, parks and rec … no one said no to us.

“That was the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I mean the entire town never said no. I can’t thank the citizens enough. We were shutting down streets and shutting down main street and that is not a common thing without a lot of repercussions. We’re an independent film, so budgetarily, most places you can’t just go and shut down streets and do stuff like that. It’s very costly. It was a huge advantage to shoot in the city, to get the kind of production value for the film that we needed to have.”

Numbers.com ranks 2024  movies with the key phrases 'buddy, coming of age and 1990s' and Snack Shack is number one at the domestic box office in that category.

Rehmeier told Ben Root of News Channel Nebraska that his films Dinner in America and Snack Shack are related in some aspects, but he is interested in directing films that are radically different in the future.