I’ll be tackling a few tidbits from Variety’s insider report on the chaos going on at Warner Bros. However, first things first, we were all surprised by yesterday’s “Mickey17” news.
In case you missed it, Bong Joon-ho’s upcoming sci-fi film was delayed to a dubious January 2025 release date. It was originally Bong’s wishes to premiere this one at Cannes, now Warner Bros seems to be dumping it into a lonely January slot.
The Variety piece states that, compared to their other upcoming titles, WB are “less pumped” by Bong’s film, which, they further state, cost a whopping $150 million to make. When contacted for comment, a Warner rep insisted: “There is, of course, enthusiasm for it.” Damage control.
Bong hasn’t released a film since his Palme and Oscar-winning 2019 film “Parasite.” By the time ‘Mickey’ is released, it would have been almost six years since that last film.
It was a risk for Warner to give Bong $150 million to make a film, but it’s also somewhat disrespectful to just dump it like they’re about to do — I bet Cannes would have gladly taken it for an out of competition slot, regardless of quality. I had also heard from a handful of test viewers that were very positive about “Mickey17.”
“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.
The film, which stars Robert Pattinson, Steven Yeun, Naomi Ackie, Toni Collette and Mark Ruffalo, has barely had any promotional material to its name, save for a 30 second teaser.
Paul Greengrass’ "The Uprising," starring Andrew Garfield, opened to $3.2M from 2,068 theaters this weekend. Yikes. The budget hasn’t been disclosed, but is said to be in the $20-$30M range.