June 26, 2026
YouTube/Focus Features
Bradley Cooper and Amy Poehler played Ben and Susie, the drama instructors at Camp Firewood, in 'Wet Hot American Summer.'
Long before he got an Oscar nod or voiced a space raccoon, Bradley Cooper was just another counselor at Camp Firewood.
The Jenkintown native's first film credit came from the 2001 summer camp comedy "Wet Hot American Summer," now considered a cult classic. To celebrate the movie's 25th anniversary, Focus Features is bringing it back to theaters. It will play at the Regal UA King of Prussia and Cinemark Somerdale 16 on Sunday, Aug. 16, and Wednesday, Aug. 19. The AMC Cherry Hill 24 and Voorhees 16 will also show it from Aug. 14-17, while the Regal Burlington and Washington Township have it for one night only on Aug. 19.
"Wet Hot American Summer" features a stacked cast of stars at the start of their careers. Cooper, Amy Poehler, Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Molly Shannon, Ken Marino, Michael Ian Black, Joe Lo Truglio and Michael Showalter are some of the counselors, while Christopher Meloni plays the PTSD-addled cook. Janeane Garofalo is the director of Camp Firewood who has a crush on a vacationing professor played by David Hyde Pierce.
Though the low-budget comedy got terrible reviews and a limited release the first time around, its reputation has improved considerably in recent years. Netflix released a prequel series "Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp" — in which the middle-aged cast played even younger versions of their characters — in 2015. A sequel series, "Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later," followed in 2017.
Check out the rerelease trailer below:
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