Few filmmakers have spent more time, more delicately, sifting through the emotional wreckage of parents, children, and the makeshift families people build to survive than Hirokazu Kore-eda. A Palme d’Or winner for “Shoplifters,” and the filmmaker behind “After Life,” “Nobody Knows,” “Like Father, Like Son,” and “Monster,” Kore-eda has turned the family drama into one of modern cinema’s most quietly devastating canvases. Now, with “Sheep in the Box,” he’s taking those lifelong concerns into the realm of humanist science fiction.
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NEON has released the new trailer and poster for “Sheep in the Box,” Kore-eda’s latest, set in the not-so-distant future and following Otone and Kensuke, a grieving couple who have lost their son. In their attempt to navigate the unbearable, they bring a humanoid child into their home with the same appearance and voice as the boy they lost.
The film stars Haruka Ayase, Daigo Yamamoto, and Rimu Kuwaki. Kore-eda wrote, directed, and edited the film, with Ryuto Kondo serving as cinematographer and Yuta Bandoh composing the score. “Sheep in the Box” premiered in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, continuing Kore-eda’s long relationship with the Croisette, where “Shoplifters” won the Palme d’Or in 2018.
The official synopsis reads: “In the near future, Otone and Kensuke, a grieving couple who have lost their son, take into their lives a humanoid identical to their late child.”
“Sheep in the Box” will be released by NEON on July 24, 2026, in New York and Los Angeles, followed by a nationwide rollout. Watch the trailer below.
