NEWS'The Iron Door' Storms the TCL Chinese Theatre This Week, Adding Another Notch to Garrett Patten's Big 2026
Sept. 16 2026, Published 1:38 p.m. ET
The biker horror thriller premieres September 17 and drops everywhere the same night, the latest move from a filmmaker who's been all over Hollywood this year.
Garrett Patten is having a moment, and it's not stopping anytime soon. "The Iron Door" premieres at the TCL Chinese Theatre on September 17, and audiences won't have to wait for a wide release: the film hits Amazon, Fandango, Google Play, YouTube, cable VOD and home video that same night.
A Short Film that Put Him on the Map
Before "The Iron Door," Patten co-directed and starred in "Self Custody," a 31 minute thriller about a broke father who realizes he might be sitting on a forgotten Bitcoin fortune, if only he can remember how to get to it. Patten took acting classes just to land the lead role of Scott, and he shared scenes with "Entourage" alum Adrien Grenier, two-time UFC champion Henry Cejudo and Odette Annable.
Shot in Austin, "Self Custody" premiered at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Mueller during SXSW and is now streaming on Prime Video, Tubi and Plex. Patten has said the story hit close to home for someone he knows. "A friend that had lost his job learned that in the past, he was gifted crypto, and he actually went on this journey to try to recover it," he explained. The short landed well enough that TBK Productions is turning it into a full television series.
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From the Desert Legend to the Director's Chair
"The Iron Door" is a low budget indie Patten made a few years back, based on a real legend out of California's Yucca Valley tied to gold miner Johnny Lang and stories that have circulated the region for a century. Now it's getting the rollout treatment, premiere and all.
"You've got to have such a passion for each of those projects that you just can't quit," Patten has said of the grind of independent filmmaking, a résumé that now spans a supporting role in a Bitcoin thriller and directing a feature built around desert folklore.
TBK Productions Isn't Slowing Down Either
Patten founded TBK Productions, and the slate keeps growing. Up next are "In the Hand of Dante" and "Family Movie," plus the in-development "Self Custody" series. He's also teased a project centered on The Grateful Dead seen through the eyes of children, and a biopic centered on Mike Tyson.
With a TCL Chinese Theatre premiere and a same-day release everywhere from Amazon to cable VOD, "The Iron Door" gives fans a much bigger stage than the festival circuit where the buzz started. For Patten, it's one more credit in a year that's already been stacked.
