Pulp’s unlikely second act is getting its own film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pulp: What Do You Do for an Encore? is a new documentary and concert film following Jarvis Cocker and the band as they return to the stage decades after first becoming one of Britain’s defining bands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The film mixes footage from Pulp’s huge 2025 tour with previously unseen archive material stretching back across the band’s four-decade history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And fans will not have long to wait to watch it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here is everything you need to know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pulp: What Do You Do for an Encore? will stream exclusively on MUBI from September 25, 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fans will also have the opportunity to see it in cinemas slightly earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Special preview screenings take place in the UK and Ireland on September 18, Canada on September 23, and the United States and Mexico on September 24.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some UK screenings also include a live satellite Q&A with the band.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The easiest answer is MUBI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The film begins streaming exclusively on the service from September 25.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before that, participating cinemas will show special theatrical previews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anyone hoping to experience Pulp’s live show on a big cinema sound system may want to choose the theatrical option.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The film runs for approximately 99 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is not simply a filmed concert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Director Garth Jennings combines footage from Pulp’s 2025 live performances with material from across the band’s entire history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The documentary follows the journey from Sheffield outsiders to one of the defining acts of the Britpop era, while also looking at what happens when a band returns decades later and discovers that people still care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps surprisingly, plenty of those people are considerably younger than Pulp themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The band’s music has continued finding new listeners who were not around during the height of Britpop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That generational crossover forms part of the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Much of the live material comes from Pulp’s enormous 2025 show at London’s O2 Arena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was part of the tour surrounding More, the band’s first new studio album in 24 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More subsequently reached number one on the UK Albums Chart, giving Pulp a remarkable late-career resurgence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The documentary includes 20 songs spanning Pulp’s career alongside archive footage and other material.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That should make it interesting even for fans who mainly want the concert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What Do You Do for an Encore? is directed by Garth Jennings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jennings has a long history with Pulp and Jarvis Cocker, making him a particularly natural choice for a film that mixes nostalgia with the band’s current incarnation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jarvis Cocker narrates the documentary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rather than presenting Pulp as a museum piece from the 1990s, the film appears interested in why the band still works now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That might be the most interesting part of the whole project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Britpop never completely disappeared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Songs from Oasis, Blur, Pulp and other major 1990s British bands continued attracting listeners long after the original scene faded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Pulp have experienced something slightly different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Their songs increasingly feel detached from the era in which they were originally released.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCommon People\u201d may be one of the defining songs of Britpop, but its themes around class, money and people romanticising lives they have never experienced hardly feel dated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The band’s combination of pop hooks, observational storytelling and slightly awkward outsider energy also translates surprisingly well to younger audiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pulp never really sounded like rock stars trying to act cool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That probably helps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More arrived in 2025 as Pulp’s first studio album since We Love Life in 2001.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A gap of 24 years between albums would normally suggest a nostalgia exercise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead, More gave Pulp a genuine new chapter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It reached number one in the UK and provided the basis for another major international tour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That distinction is important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pulp are not simply performing \u201cCommon People\u201d and \u201cDisco 2000\u201d forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They have new music, a new audience and apparently another story worth telling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For existing Pulp fans, the answer looks fairly obvious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You get a major live show, 20 songs, previously unseen archive footage and Jarvis Cocker narrating the strange journey that turned a group of Sheffield outsiders into one of Britain’s most important bands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the film could be even more useful for newer listeners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you have discovered Pulp recently and want to understand why the band matters so much, this essentially offers the story in one place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More than 40 years into their career, Pulp somehow seem relevant again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What do you do for an encore?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Apparently, you make a number-one album, tour the world and release a movie about it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pulp’s unlikely second act is getting its own film. Pulp: What Do You Do for an Encore? is a new documentary and concert film following Jarvis Cocker and the band as they return to the stage decades after first becoming one of Britain’s defining bands. The film mixes footage from Pulp’s huge 2025 tour with previously unseen archive material stretching back across the band’s four-decade history. And fans will not have long to wait to watch it. Here is everything you need to know. When is the Pulp documentary released? Pulp: What Do You Do for an Encore? will stream…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4190,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2523,197,2522,2524],"coauthors":[2],"class_list":["post-4189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-encore","tag-events","tag-pulp","tag-watch"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n