Official Trailer for John Wilson’s ‘The History of Concrete’ NYC Doc​

“Do you ever think there’s too much concrete in the city?” Indeed. Magnolia Pictures has debuted the full official trailer for the documentary film titled The History of Concrete, the very first feature film made by acclaimed doc filmmaker John Wilson. A whole movie about concrete! Believe it! This premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year as one of the hottest tickets at the festival, then it ended up receiving rave reviews from everyone (here’s mine). Following the finale of his acclaimed HBO doc series “How To with John Wilson”, NYC documentarian John Wilson looks to the bedrock of his beloved New York City for inspiration and structure. He decides to make a doc about concrete – not only its history, but the way it’s ever-present in all aspects of our lives (from buildings to pavement and beyond). We learn about the differences between cement and concrete, how to clean up concrete, and everything else you did not know you would learn about concrete, but now he’ll tell you all about. Executive produced by Nathan Fielder, the film is also a meta look at the struggles of making a doc. A very entertaining doc that becomes a tribute to all the various people of New York City, who are as important to holding the city together as all of the concrete.

Here’s the official trailer (+ poster) for John Wilson’s doc film The History of Concrete, from YouTube:

You can rewatch the teaser trailer for Wilson’s The History of Concrete right here for the first look again.

Following the finale of his TV series “How To with John Wilson” (originally aired on HBO), filmmaker John Wilson looks to the bedrock of his beloved New York City for inspiration & structure. Concrete, the world’s most widely used building material, appears as an ever-present life force in NYC, and John sets out to make the definitive documentary on the matter. To tell this seemingly drab story, he decides to use the industry-approved Hallmark formula to increase his movie’s appeal. But his foundation soon begins to crumble—literally and figuratively—as he struggles to balance artistic freedom with the realities of the modern film industry. The History of Concrete is directed by the American doc filmmaker John Wilson, making his first feature film after the “How To with John Wilson” HBO series and many, many other short films previously. Produced by John Wilson, Clark Filio, Shirel Kozak, Allie Viti. This initially premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year (read our review). Magnolia Pictures debuts Wilson’s The History of Concrete in select US theaters starting September 18th, 2026. For info head to the official site.

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