There’s some unfortunate news for South Korean auteur Bong Joon Ho’s upcoming sci-fi film, “Mickey 17,” which was delayed earlier this year. Warner Bros. is pushing the film out of 2024 entirely and has now set a new date of January 25, 2025. The film stars Robert Pattinson and the actor plays an expendable,” a disposable employee on a human expedition sent to colonize the ice world Niflheim. After one iteration dies, a new body is regenerated with most of his memories intact.
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“Mickey 17” was originally scheduled for March 29, 2024, but Warner Bros. pulled the date earlier this year and moved up “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” into that slot instead. The film was originally delayed, apparently to allow more time to finish the VFX, which had been affected due to last year’s strikes and other various production shifts.
But either way, January isn’t exactly a huge vote of confidence on the part of Warners. January is usually known as a dead zone where bad films are dumped, and or the case of things like “Mean Girls,” a month where films with low expectations can surprise and flourish.
But “Mickey 17” is not that kind of film and has been one of the most anticipated films of the year. Warner is trying to put a good spin on things, though, telling Variety that January will at least allow them to have IMAX screens—something that wouldn’t be available to them during the rest of the busy year where IMAX is largely booked—and that the new date coincides with the Lunar New Year in 2025 which is a “major moviegoing event internationally.”
Much of that sounds like spin, though, and one wonders if Bong Joon Ho just made a kind of film they weren’t expecting.
“Mickey 17” is the filmmaker’s first feature since the critically acclaimed “Parasite,” which became the highest-grossing Korean film in history, as well as the first non-English language movie to win Best Picture at the Oscars. So yes, those expectations are through the roof, really, and going from an Oscar-winning film to a January dead zone is a serious disappointment.
“Mickey 17” also co-stars Steven Yeun, Naomi Ackie, Toni Collette, and Mark Ruffalo. Famed cinematographer Darius Khondji shot the movie.
“Mickey 17” is based on Edward Ashton’s book “Mickey7” and has been described by publisher St. Martin Press as a “high-concept cerebral thriller in the vein of “The Martian” and “Dark Matter.”
Meanwhile, maybe the filmmaker has already moved on. South Korean press has already reported that Bong Joon Ho is preparing his next project: directing an untitled animated film about sea creatures. The film will reportedly be the most expensive production in Korean film history, with a $52 million (USD) budget. (via VDaum).
