A real shocker coming through the airwaves. Bong Joon-ho’s “Mickey17” will not be released this year. Warner Bros has just given it a January 31st, 2025 release date. January is usually when studios dump films they have no confidence in …
“Mickey17” was originally dated for a March 29, 2024 release. Last month, it got delayed indefinitely. Bong had mentioned in a recent interview that he’d be busy during the first half of 2024 doing post-production work on the film.
There’s been barely any promotional material for the film, save for a 30 second teaser, and I kept hearing that Bong wanted it to premiere at Cannes. Now, with that January 2025 date, Cannes isn’t even an option. It begs me to wonder if the VFX work is taking longer than expected.
Last August, the film had a great test screening, the people I spoke to were very impressed by the film and its usage of practical effects. You can read the rave reaction that I published on 06.09.23. It was screened “without a score, lack of sound design and around 75% of the VFX completed”.
”Mickey17” is set to be Bong’s first film since his Palme d’Or and Oscar winning “Parasite,” released in 2019. It stars Robert Pattinson, Steven Yeun, Naomi Ackie, Toni Collette and Mark Ruffalo. Here’s a synopsis:
The film centers on an “expendable,” who is a disposable employee on a human expedition sent to colonize an ice world. After one iteration dies, a new body is regenerated with most of his memories intact.
Bong is known as the filmmaker behind such critically-acclaimed films as “Parasite,”“Snowpiercer,” “Mother” “The Host” and “Memories of Murder.”
The short version: "Woman Unknown" was a compromise. The jury deadlocked over "Possible Love" and "NAZA," not able to com to terms, fell back on their #3, May el-Toukhy's film.