Earlier this year, Bong Joon-ho’s upcoming sci-fi film, “Mickey 17,” was delayed to a dubious January 2025 release date. It was originally Bong’s wishes to premiere this one at Cannes, but now Warner Bros seems to be dumping it into that lonely January slot. What gives?
Last night, Bong was at CinemaCon where he screened the first trailer for his much-delayed film. The reactions have been, for the most part, positive. I’m not seeing glowing praise for the footage shown, but more of a “that was fun” kind of reaction.
Robert Pattinson is said to be “doing this accent that's like Joe Pesci as Tweety Bird, or that incredible Funny or Die skit "Ryan Gosling's Acting Range,” according to journalist Matt Donnelly. I’ve heard about “the voice,” and you’ll be reading more about it a little further down in this article.
The trailer debut, a brilliant marketing strategy from Warner Bros, given that CinemaCon audiences eat up practically anything they’re fed, has resulted in people absolutely furious on social media about “Mickey 17” being dumped with a January 2025 release date. They don’t understand why Warner Bros is treating their beloved Bong this way. They did him dirty, they claim.
We Live Entertainment’s Scott Menzel: “Mickey 17 trailer was very different than expected. The trailer plays up the comedy as well as the science fiction. Robert Pattinson is doing some interesting voice work in the film. I’m very intrigued by the trailer and it seems very quirky and weird.”
The Playlist’s Gregory Ellwood tweeted: “There is no reason Mickey 17 cannot be released this fall or even December. This is bizarre”.
One person at CinemaCon not impressed by what he saw was journalist Jeff Sneider.
The “Bong hive” quickly started attacking Sneider for his tweet. Fact of the matter is that he saw the trailer and they didn’t. End of story.
Sneider expanded his thoughts on the trailer in his newsletter:
The trailer is set to “Ain’t That a Kick in the Head,” and what a kick in the head it is, playing out like a comedic version of “Edge of Tomorrow”, with Pattinson’s Mickey dying over and over in service of some larger mission. Until, I guess, Mickey 18 wakes up to find that Mickey 17 never died… or something… giving us twice the #PattinsonPower. Yes, the star of The Batman plays dual roles here, but you won’t be talking about seeing double after this trailer. No, you’ll be talking about Pattinson’s voice, which is… a choice. A bad one. How could Director Bong have allowed Pattinson to do that voice?
My tweet regarding the Mickey 17 trailer certainly made the rounds in Hollywood on Tuesday night, with one source encouraging me to reserve judgment until I see the movie, and another source telling me I was spot on, and that “the movie is an absolute mess and will be a huge money loser for Warner Bros.” I guess we’ll have to wait and see about that…
Two weeks ago, I wrote about “Mickey 17” having been test-screened for the third time in the last five months. Last June, I posted a positive reaction from the very first test screening. Here’s the latest one, and it’s much less enthusiastic …
Other than the performances it wasn’t very good. I hope they are improving it heavily because the rough cut I saw was not great. There were definitely some good points. The performances were great, but the writing/editing/story arc was .. not. The last act fell apart and the writing was pretty meh. Mark Ruffalo and Robert Pattinson’s performances were pretty great though. The creepers look exactly like Tardigrades. Toni Colette plays Ruffalo’s wife (who kind of pulls the strings). Pattinson has an insane nasally, lisp-y voice that is really jarring at first — but as usual he kills the role(s). Ruffalo plays the General and he’s hilarious in it. Huge veneers and kind of plays it like a mix of Trump and his “Poor Things” character. Colette plays a major bratty character. It was a very rough cut, but a lot of my complaints aren’t easy fixes.. mainly the writing and the last act.
This is just one reaction, and, as stated above, last year I had posted someone’s glowing thoughts on the film. However, I’ve asked our resident in-house tester, he goes to multiple screenings, on a weekly basis, and, although he liked “Mickey 17” he’s telling me that the testing community are VERY split on the film.
Reactions have been good, but not great with general audiences and everyone I’ve spoken to split on Ruffalo’s Trump-like performance and Pattinson’s voice. I can see why Warner Bros isn’t confident in this one, but I did like it.
Earlier in the year, Variety reported that, compared to some of their other 2023 titles, Warners were far “less pumped” by Bong’s film, which, they confirmed, cost a whopping $150 million to make.
The film started production in summer 2022. There hasn’t been much promotional material for the film either, save for a measly teaser, and the above still. At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if reshoots are happening, or have happened, on “Mickey 17.”
Criterion's December lineup has some great additions to the library, but the title that jumped out at me is Werner Herzog's "Grizzly Man," which officially joins the Collection on December 8.