After six years and multiple delays, Oscar winning director and Korean film trailblazer Bong Joon-ho is finally back to big screens globally with his Mickey 17, a dystopian sci-fi adaptation of Edward Ashton’s 2022 novel, Mickey 7. Bong changed the title because he wanted to see his protagonist die ten more times.

The film is led by Robert Pattinson as Mickey Barnes, a naïve, down-on-his-luck orphan who, in an effort to escape a loan shark and a decrepit Earth, signs up to board a spaceship colony headed towards a new planet, Niflheim. Not entirely aware of what he was g up for, he chooses “Expendable” as his job, making him the science team’s lab rat for all things deadly. You see, they had developed a human printing machine which, upon ing Mickey’s genetic makeup and memories, could create as many specimens as their hearts desired.

The protagonist’s job is, then, essentially, to die for the cause, over and over and over — whether that’s in service of spacecraft maintenance, vaccine development, or planet reconnaissance.

Leading the charge is Mark Ruffalo in a Trump-infused performance as the colony’s populist leader, Commander Kenneth Marshall, a failed Earthly politician who turns to the space race to fulfill his megalomaniac ambitions, instead — the latter part more akin to the real life U.S. president’s right-hand man or, as some would argue, puppeteer, billionaire businessman and famed SpaceX founder, Elon Musk.

More interestingly, Marshall is less a charismatic leader than a well-oiled mouthpiece for his wife’s even more eccentric illusions of grandeur. Toni Collette is fabulous as the devious, ethnically ambiguous Ylfa, sharing an oddly captivating chemistry with Ruffalo as the ship’s sociopathic leaders.

Meanwhile, Mickey also finds love. Granted, one that’s much less unhinged than Marshall and Ylfa’s. He meets security agent Nasha (Naomi Ackie) early on, and though you wonder at first what she sees in him, you quickly bite into their tender, and slightly freaky, romance as the emotional core of the film. Nasha stands by Mickey’s every version, comforting him as Cameron Britton’s twisted science team boss, Arkady, puts him through the wringer. Later, there’s a particularly striking scene where she holds his body as he rots away from a deadly airborne Niflheim virus. It becomes clear that Bong has found the key to survival and the answer to offsetting the soul-rotting vices of modern society: love.

Though many of his characters are, there’s nothing cynical or nihilistic about Bong’s work. Quite the opposite, actually. The director seems invested in preserving hope and love amidst our ever-putrescent reality. And Mickey 17 is perhaps his most romantic film.

The exposition-heavy first half hour of the film and, especially, the sequence showing Mickey’s multiple deaths oscillates between humorously cruel and cruelly humorous, while you’re left oscillating between nausea and amusement. That carefully crafted balance between the barbarism of common, repeated violence and the hilarity of its outrageousness create the film’s very distinctive brand of comedy, one which has Bong Joon-ho written all over it.

For the audiences who only know the South Korean director from his exquisite, genre bending thriller Parasite, Mickey 17‘s sci-fi eccentricity will feel like a bizarre leap. However, it’s actually the third film in an unofficial trilogy that makes up an entire subsection of Bong’s filmography, and, more specifically, his ventures into the English language.

It’s curious to note how Bong tends to go darker and more serious in his Korean films, albeit maintaining the satirical bite that has come to define his filmmaking. But in 2013’s Snowpiercer, 2017’s Okja, and now Mickey 17 — all three dystopian sci-fi-esque critiques of capitalism and materialism — he’s so much more whimsical. It’s like the distance that the English language provides allows him to be completely unabashed and unafraid of the maximalism that he also surely must recognize in American society — itself so wildly distant from Korean’s much humbler, but also much more repressed, culture.

In fact, neither of these three films is very interested in subtlety — at least not in the way Parasite or Memories of Murder are. When making American films, for all intents and purposes, Bong is loud and on-the-nose with his metaphors. In Snowpiercer, the social hierarchy is laid out linearly into a train’s different classes; in Okja, a little girl tries to save her pet pig from slaughter and mad scientists; and in Mickey 17, a human being’s life is literally made “expendable” in service of his job.

Similarly, Ruffalo’s autocrat may feel heavy-handed. His devout followers also wear embroidered hats, albeit blue, with his slogan. His speech and mannerisms are exaggerated, his tan foundation noticeable, and, together with Ylfa, they flaunt their riches (primarily abundant food) while attempting to convince their calorie-controlled subjects that their deprivation is a brave, patriotic sacrifice for the colony’s greater good. There’s little about this story that’s left to claw its way out of the realm of subtext, and maybe that’s for the best, given the current media illiteracy epidemic.

There’s one exception, though. Bong intentionally leaves the film’s meditations on death to be read between the lines, possibly as a way to allow the viewer to imprint their own personal feelings on life’s most enigmatic aspect. Mickey often complains about how many times people ask him what it feels like to die. He never really provides an answer — but when given the space to, he does occasionally reflect on how it terrifies him every time, and how much he dislikes it. And it’s like no one really listens (and you wonder “Why ask, then?”) — except for Nasha, of course.

The most poignant aspect of Mickey 17, which certainly sets it apart from other mega productions of its kind, is, again, its audacious sincerity. Mickey, Nasha, and other stand-out minor characters, like Anamaria Vartolomei’s Kai or Patsy Ferran’s Dorothy, love loudly and are steadfast in their principles, or, in the latter’s case, they learn to become that way. It’s a genuinely sweet movie despite all the gruesome deaths, creepy crawling insects (which, by the way, teach the humans a thing or two about community), bleak grayish photography, and literal icy setting.

The crux of the film’s pathos, of course, lies in the character of Mickey, who’s trusting and empathetic to a fault. Because of these traits, he becomes the film’s hero, ultimately saving the day in more ways than one (all of which we’ll leave unspoiled to somewhat preserve the experience of first time viewers). Pattinson is dizzying in the role, tapping into so many facets of human existence through the most unassuming of mono/dialogues, but especially through his boundlessly expressive stares and little facial twists. Bong recognized his genius from films like the Safdies’ Good Time and Robert Eggers’s The Lighthouse, and gifted him with a role that enabled him to showcase the true breadth of his range. And what a match made in weird, earnest heaven that was.

Those who enjoyed the Bong of Okja and Snowpiercer will definitely get a kick out of Mickey 17, but don’t expect the elegant nuance of Parasite. Ultimately, this director sticks to his guns and, whatever he makes, he makes it wholeheartedly. And that’s always a triumph.

Robert Pattinson has played some intense characters over the years. There’s the brooding vampire in Twilight, and the psychologically tormented billionaire in The Batman. But when it comes to watching horror movies? Nope, he’s out. And his reason for swearing off the genre is actually super relatable. 

“I used to think it was cool…”

Pattinson sat with Mickey 17 director Bong Joon Ho for GQ, where itted that he just can’t handle horror movies anymore. This might come as a surprise, considering his filmography includes some pretty dark and unsettling projects (The Lighthouse, anyone?). But according to Pattinson, that was the old him.

“I used to watch a lot of dark stuff when I was younger and think, ‘Yeah, this is cool.’ And now, I’m too sensitive,” he shared. “It’s strange, you’d think it would go the other way round. As you get older, you become less frightened of these [films]. I can’t watch horror movies anymore.”

Honestly, same. Who hasn’t reached a point where horror movies stop being fun and start messing with your actual peace of mind?

“I was sleeping with knives”

Bong Joon Ho playfully suggested that Pattinson’s new sensitivity to horror might have something to do with becoming a dad. The actor and his longtime partner, Suki Waterhouse, welcomed their first child in Mar. 2024. It’s a solid theory—parenthood does tend to make people more aware (and anxious) about potential dangers.

But Pattinson insists his horror aversion started before fatherhood. And if you need proof of just how much horror messes with his head these days, he shared a wild story about how one movie left him on high alert—armed and terrified.

“I did get very frightened [recently],” he itted. “I had to do a meeting with a director, and he’d done this horror movie, and I watched it, and I kept thinking that someone was breaking into my house. And so I was sitting on my sofa with two kitchen knives waiting for the person to come in. And then I fell asleep with them basically in my neck on the couch.”

Yep. The man was so spooked he actually dozed off clutching knives. Imagine being Suki Waterhouse, walking into that scene. “My girlfriend came in and she was like, ‘What is happening? Why do you have two knives in your face and you’re sleeping?’” Pattinson recalled, laughing. His best guess? “It was probably a squirrel.”

The mystery movie that freaked him out?

While Pattinson didn’t reveal which horror movie left him this shaken, many believe it was Smile—the 2022 psychological horror film directed by Parker Finn. Why? Because Pattinson and Finn are now working together on a remake of Possession, a cult 1981 horror film by Polish director Andrzej Żuławski. It makes sense that Pattinson would want to familiarize himself with Finn’s work before teaming up. Still, it’s pretty ironic that someone too scared to watch horror movies is now starring in one. But hey, at least he won’t have to watch himself in Possession.

Pattinson’s fear of horror movies is so relatable because, let’s be real, horror hits differently as an adult. When you’re younger, it’s all just entertainment—ghosts, demons, and serial killers feel far removed from reality. But as you get older, your brain starts thinking about real-life dangers, home invasions, and, apparently, squirrels. So, if Robert Pattinson—a guy who has faced off against Batman villains, lighthouse hallucinations, and actual vampire wars—can it that horror is just too much for him these days, maybe we can all feel a little less embarrassed about keeping the lights on after a scary movie.

Robert Pattinson has played it all, from brooding vampire, to masked vigilante, and even a socially awkward lighthouse keeper. But when asked which of his past roles he’d bring back to life, his answer wasn’t what most fans expected. With options like Edward Cullen from Twilight or Neil, his mysterious character from Tenet, there were plenty of picks that could have made sense. Maybe he’d pick a character with unfinished business? Or perhaps, one whose story could have taken a different turn? Oh no, Pattinson’s pick sent fans into a full-blown nostalgia spiral.

A heartbreaking choice

During the press tour for his sci-fi film Mickey 17, Pattinson sat down with content creator Brooke Averick for an interview that turned out to be one of the highlights of the promo run. She asked him a simple yet thought-provoking question: “Out of all the characters you’ve played, if you could pick one of your past characters to bring back to life and start over, who would it be?” Pattinson didn’t hesitate with his response.

I was thinking maybe like Cedric Diggory… It was a tragic one.

For those who need a refresher, Cedric Diggory was the golden boy of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. A Hufflepuff through and through, he was brave, kind, and honorable. He was also one of the few characters in the Harry Potter film series who didn’t have a dark or complicated past. Similarly, Cedric wasn’t haunted by trauma or chasing redemption. He was just a good person who wanted to do the right thing. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to save him. 

Cedric was chosen as Hogwarts’ champion in the Triwizard Tournament, competing alongside Harry Potter. Despite the tournament’s high stakes, Cedric and Harry maintained a sense of mutual respect, even helping each other along the way. But in the final challenge, everything took a terrifying turn, and Cedric was killed by Peter Pettigrew on Voldemort’s orders. No epic battle. No final words. Just a senseless, gut-wrenching death.

The moment was made even more painful by the reaction of Cedric’s father, Amos Diggory. Even to this day, his grief-stricken screams still echo in our minds. Evidently, it was one of the most shocking deaths in the series, and fans have never really gotten over Cedric’s tragic goodbye. Also, hearing Robert acknowledge that just makes it hit even harder.

What if Cedric got a second chance?

Cedric’s death felt unfair because it was unfair. That’s why it’s interesting to compare Cedric to Mickey Barnes in Mickey 17. Both are thrown into extreme situations beyond their control, and both meet an untimely fate. The only difference is that Mickey gets to come back. Imagine a world where Cedric Diggory had that chance?

Would he have changed the course of the Harry Potter series? Would he have fought alongside Harry against Voldemort? Or would the trauma of dying and coming back alter his personality completely?

It’s definitely a fascinating thought experiment, and it just goes to show that, even after all these years, Cedric Diggory’s death still haunts us. And if Robert Pattinson could bring him back, you know Harry Potter fans would be first in line to see what Cedric’s second chance might look like.

Mickey 17, the next film from Parasite director Bong Joon Ho starring the one and only Robert Pattinson won’t be welcoming theatergoers to kick off 2025. Instead, you’ll have to wait a little longer to see it as the release date has been delayed.

The highly anticipated sci-fi film was originally scheduled to be released on Jan. 31, 2025, but now it’s going to be arriving in theaters on April 18, 2025 (as reported by Variety), around three months after its original date. That’s quite a significant wait, but it’s for a good reason.

With the Michael Jackson biopic initially set to dominate IMAX theaters in April, Mickey 17 was ready to launch earlier, mostly on smaller screens. Well, Michael has been moved from April 18 to Oct. 3, so the IMAX screens are now free, and Warner Bros. has scooped in to nab them up for the new Bong Joon Ho film.

The good news is that now Mickey 17 (not to be confused with Michael) has a new release date and will be released in IMAX theaters globally. For those who were eager to see Michael, you’ll still be able to check out the movie on the big screen when it finally gets here later in 2025. While the delay of Mickey 17 might seem annoying, it’s really a big win for fans as IMAX is without a doubt the best way to see a movie in theaters.

Since Mickey 17 has now moved, its original release date has also been swooped up. This time by Companion, a film that was originally scheduled to arrive a few weeks later on Jan. 31, 2024. Basically, it has been a giant cinema shuffle.

Mickey 17’s recent delay isn’t the first for the film. In fact, it was originally scheduled to be released in March of 2024. Obviously, that didn’t happen, and now the movie will land just over a year later. The difference between these two days is that the first one was so the film could be finished while this is simply a matter of locking down IMAX screens. Let’s hope there are no more surprise delays before it does arrive.

Robert Pattinson leads the sci-fi thriller that tells the story of Mickey Barnes, a man sent to colonize a distant ice planet. Things get strange when he finds that each time he dies a copy of himself is made to replace him that still has all of his memories. This story is based on a book by Edward Ashton called Mickey7.

While Robert Pattinson is always a major draw, Mickey 17 has garnered a ton of interest thanks to director Bong Joon Ho. The creative absolutely exploded onto the scene in 2019 with the mega-hit Parasite, and Mickey 17 will be his next film after the success. For that reason, it’s one of the most highly anticipated movies of 2025 in many circles.

For now, if you plan on seeing this movie in theaters make sure you keep April 18, 2025 free. Now you’ll be able to enjoy in on the biggest and best screens possible.

Back in 2019, the world bore witness to this little movie known as Parasite, and Bong Joon-ho was forevermore etched into the public consciousness as one of the most masterful filmmakers working today. This, in spite of the fact that he hasn’t release a single film since acclimating to Oscars glory all those years ago.

That’s going to change thanks to Mickey 17, the black comedy sci-fi flick starring Robert Pattinson that just released its first trailer yesterday, teasing what appears to be an utterly delightful gongshow of galactic-yet-humble proportions, in no small part to Pattinson himself.

Indeed, after a career that’s spanned the joyless Edward, the also-joyless-but-entertainingly-peril-stricken Ephraim Winslow, the walking, talking Christopher Nolan plot twist Neil, and the latest in a long line of Batmans, Pattinson’s leading role in Mickey 17 seems to be making the internet fall in love with the delectably talented luminary all over again.

For those of you not in the know, Mickey 17, based on Edward Ashton’s 2022 sci-fi novel Mickey7, stars Pattinson as Mickey Barnes, a resident of a future Earth who applies to be an “expendable.” Successful expendable candidates are put through a process that allows their body to be regenerated with most of their memories intact after the die, thereby allowing them to take on extremely dangerous jobs without carrying the same risk.

The hook? Mickey, on his seventeenth incarnation, survives an incident that presumably killed him, and so now he’s come face to face with his clone, and they don’t seem to be getting along very well.

But never mind the wonderfully inventive and equally-as-cheeky cinematic enterprise that Bong seems to have cooked up for us here, because this trailer has also confirmed that Pattinson is once again going to play around with his voice in order to bring his character to life. Who would’ve thought that the little squeaks made by this working-class astronaut came from the same guy who played the latest live-action incarnation of Bruce Wayne of all people?

Jokes aside, Pattinson isn’t the only ingredient to look forward to in Bong’s buffet. The fact that the Okja mastermind both wrote and directed Mickey 17 would be enough of a draw even without Pattinson, but the actor has a world-class ing cast around him as well, with Naomi Ackie, Steven Yeun, Toni Collette, and Mark Ruffalo all shoring up the ranks of this sci-fi romp. With our attention irrevocably seized, all that’s left to do now is look ahead to Jan. 31, 2025, when Mickey 17 finally descends into cinemas in the United States after a nearly year-long delay.

Rotten Tomatoes recently released its list of the most anticipated movies of 2025, and the scenario is bleak.

Out of 28 titles, only seven aren’t part of a franchise. Out of those seven, two are remakes of older classics, leaving us with five truly original new films to look forward to in the next year. Well, according to that list anyway.

Faced with such a depressing prospect, we felt the need to investigate further to see whether Hollywood is really that badly out of ideas, and thankfully there are several creatives still trying to push the envelope in some capacity. Our list shares just two titles with Rotten Tomatoes.

In The Grey (January 17)

Kicking off 2025 in style is Guy Ritchie’s latest. The Snatch director never rests, putting out two television shows and three films just in 2023 and 2024 alone. In the new year, he’s following it up with an action flick packed with stars, including frequent collaborators Henry Cavill, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Eiza González. Rosamund Pike also features. The men play two extraction specialists who have to facilitate the escape of a senior female negotiator, per IMDb. Talking to Deadline, the filmmaker described the film as “both intellectually stimulating and physically exhilarating.”

Mickey 17 (January 31)

We’ve all been anxiously anticipating Bong Joon-Ho’s return to screens following what is one of the best films of the 21st century, the Academy-Award-winning Parasite. Strikes and delays in post-production pushed that day back by almost a year as Mickey 17‘s release date was mysteriously changed from Mar. 29, 2024, to Jan. 31, 2025. The film adapts Edward Ashton’s Mickey7 novel about clone space travelers who are sent to colonize the ice world Niflheim. Pattinson plays the central clones and is ed by Steven Yeun, Naomi Ackie, Toni Collette, and Mark Ruffalo in ing roles.

With Love (February 7)

Jonathan Eusebio has been Hollywood’s trusted stunt director, coordinator, and choreographer for many years, but now he’s finally stepping into the main role behind the cameras with his directorial debut With Love, starring Oscar-winners Ke Huy Quan, in his first-ever leading role, and Ariana DeBose.

The plot is still being kept under wraps but producers David Leitch and Kelly McCormick say the film is making the most out of Quan’s action chops. “He also has a really amazing glasses move that I can’t really tell you about [Kelly and David laugh] where his spectacles like fly and then land. He does it naturally in like IRL, and we’re gonna take advantage of that superpower [sic]” they told Collider.

Untitled Ryan Coogler film (March 7)

Now this one is probably top of this writer’s personal list of 2025 prospects. Ryan Coogler directing the cameras that capture Michael B. Jordan has long been proven a recipe for success, so the idea of them making a period film that is also a vampire thriller sounds almost too cool to be true. Still untitled, and highly secretive, this project is both directed and penned by Coogler for Warner Bros., and also stars Jack O’Connell, Delroy Lindo, Omar Benson Miller, Jayme Lawson, Wunmi Mosaku, Li Jun Li, and Hailee Steinfeld.

Love Me (early 2025)

Love Me might have technically premiered in 2024, but it will only find its way to the screens of non-Sundance Film Festival attendees in the new year. The post-apocalyptic romance drama wasn’t exactly embraced by critics at the festival, but its premise and leading duo are just fascinating enough to keep the flame of curiosity alive.

Kristen Stewart and Steven Yeun, also known as two of the best working young actors of their generation, play an unusual couple made up of a buoy and a satellite who meet online and fall in love long after the extinction of the human race. It tackles all the complicated and anxiety-inducing implications of human connection in a technological world.

BC Project (August 8)

Paul Thomas Anderson’s film is still being referred to by its working title BC Project. Rumored to be based on Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel Vineland but transporting its 80s Reagan setting to modern America, the movie marks PTA’s first collaboration with Leonardo DiCaprio which is exciting in and of itself.

Unconfirmed and unofficial plot details say the 49-year-old actor plays the adoptive father of Sean Penn and Regina Hall’s child. Penn is rumored to be playing the leader of a white supremacist group desperate to get rid of an interracial baby he had with Hall’s character. Musicians Alana Haim, Teyana Taylor, and Shayna McHayle (AKA Junglepussy) round up the cast.

Him (September 19)

While Jordan Peeles works to create his much-anticipated fourth film, his production team is growing by the minute by purchasing some of Hollywood’s most refreshing and exciting projects. Following 2023’s Monkey Man, Monkeypaw Productions is turning its efforts to Him, a psychological horror film previously titled GOAT, which stars Marlon Wayans as a legendary quarterback tasked with training a rising talent, played by Tyriq Withers. The Justin Tipping-directed movie also features Julia Fox, Tim Heidecker, comedian Jim Jefferies, and hip-hop stars Guapdad 4000 and Tierra Whack in their feature film debuts.

The History of Sound (Unknown)

For this next section of our list, allow us to go down a Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor rabbit hole. The two incredibly talented actors from across the pond are booked and busy for the year and we could not be more excited to watch these projects.

The only one that managed to nab them both, however, was Oliver Hermanus’s The History of Sound in which they will play a couple, who fall in love while traveling together to capture World War I stories and songs.

Hamnet (Unknown)

There aren’t many things in film as exciting as rising stars pairing up with a leading new-generation director, which is exactly what is happening in Hamnet, an film by Oscar winner Chlóe Zhao that adapts Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 novel Hamnet about William Shakespeare’s son, who died at age 11. Mescal plays the English playwright, while Buckley plays Shakespeare’s wife Agnes/Anne Hathaway.

Per Deadline, “The novel charts the emotional, familial and artistic consequences of that loss, bringing to life a human and heart-stopping story as the backdrop to the creation of The Bard’s Hamlet.”

Separate Rooms (Unknown)

Another director who does not rest is Luca Guadagnino (After the Hunt, a thriller directed by the Italian set in the world of academia and starring Andrew Garfield and Julia Roberts could just as easily have been featured on this list, but that one is more likely to come out in 2026).

Hot off the widespread acclaim of the fantastic sports drama Challengers, Guadagnino and O’Connor are pairing up again in Separate Rooms, where the actor will play an irreverent Italian writer named Leo who develops a romance with his translator Thomas. O’Connor previously acted predominantly in Italian in his other 2024 film, La Chimera. The film, which adapts the 1989 novel by the late author Pier Vittorio Tondelli, only has one other name attached as of now — none other than Léa Seydoux — in an undisclosed role.

We’ve got a Batman-themed rollout of sci-fi news for you today, as James Gunn has outed himself as the DCU’s actual Caped Crusader while the current actor to don the Dark Knight’s cowl stars in our inaugural glimpse at a sci-fi outing that may just end up sweeping the floor next awards season. Elsewhere, the truth about Terminator: Judgement Day is unearthed as an intriguing yet frustrating high-concept thriller earns extra eyes.

A few seconds of Robert Pattinson without a shirt is enough to start early awards buzz for Bong Joon-ho’s new movie

Off the back of his Oscar win for his last directorial effort, Parasite, Bong Joon-ho has managed to successfully drum up the hype for his next feature film with one short teaser trailer that nonetheless delivers the goods. This first look at Mickey 17 does nothing but feature Robert Pattinson without a shirt yet that’s enough to get folks already predicting that this sci-fi thriller, as based on the novel by Edward Ashton, is going to clean up at the Academy Awards once it arrives.

Step aside, R-Patz, Batfleck, and Keaton — James Gunn is DC’s real-life Batman

And yet Pattinson has been given short shrift, along with his fellow cinematic Dark Knights, by DC fans who are already loyal to new DC overlord James Gunn. One fawning fan likened DC’s poaching of the Guardians of the Galaxy filmmaker from Marvel to the MCU stealing Batman, to which Gunn graciously and humbly accepted the comparison to the heavyweight superhero. Let’s hope it doesn’t go to his head, though, as he does now have the power to fire Pattinson and cast himself in The Batman 2.

30 years later, the reason Terminator 2 had 16 times the budget of the first one is finally clear

Everyone knows that the Terminator series is less of a franchise and more two fantastic films followed by several underwhelming sequels. While the first one was a low-budget sci-fi/horror, it was Judgement Day that transformed it into an action blockbuster brand, thanks to a enormously increased budget. And now we know why it was so huge, thanks to a resurfaced bit of trivia revealing that the movie’s future-set opening scene cost more than the entire original movie put together.

Streaming spotlight: An enlightening high-concept thriller that squandered its premise is nevertheless taking flight

There’s nothing more frustrating for film fans than when a movie sports a brilliant premise but fails to capitalize on it. That’s the case with 2017’s 2:22, starring Michiel Huisman and Teresa Palmer, about an air traffic controller who is plagued by the same star-filled vision every day at the exact same time. Despite its lackluster execution, it seems this intriguing mystery is enough to get people to give the flick a go as 2:22 is currently finding itself taking off on streaming this week.

Stay tuned tomorrow for more of the latest sci-fi news around, cinephiles.

Robert Pattinson and Bong Joon Ho are two names you probably didn’t expect to see in the same sentence together, let alone the same film. The teaser trailer for their first film together, Mickey 17, arrived today, and should the pair’s past work speak for itself, then we’re in for the sci-fi event of a generation.

In of information, the trailer delivers the bare bones, offering up nothing but a shirtless Pattinson lying face-up in a futuristic machine resembling an MRI chamber. As the camera turns over on itself we slowly zoom in on Pattinson’s eyes until they shoot open at the last minute and we see the word Mickey 17 splash across the screen. 

The movie is based on the relatively new novel Mickey7 by Edward Ashton. In the novel, Mickey is an Expendable, a disposable human employee whose mission it is to help colonize the ice planet Niflheim. Given the dangerous nature of his line of work, Mickey’s memories are backed up and restored to a clone body in the unlikely (or likely) event that he dies. In the novel, Mickey is on his seventh iteration. After being declared dead on a mission he failed to return from, Mickey fights his way back to the colony’s base only to discover that the eighth iteration of himself has already been activated, but Mickey refuses to let the clone take his place. The two Mickeys decide to work together to keep this secret hidden, for if people found out, they would be killed and tossed into the recycler in an instant.

Based on the premise alone, it appears that the movie adaptation of Pattinson’s Mickey will be the 17th iteration of the Expendable, not the seventh, which indicates some severe alterations to the source material. Then again, perhaps the only difference is the number of times the character tried and failed to complete his mission. We won’t know until more clips of the movie are released.

Mickey 17 promises some major acting gymnastics from Pattinson, who will have to play two different versions of himself, but with Bong at the helm, this just might be the movie that gets the 36-year-old an Academy Award attention. 

Bong’s 2019 magnum opus, Parasite, won the South Korean director the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Director. The movie also took home the award for Best Original Screenplay and Best International Feature Film, and became the first-ever non-English language film to win Best Picture and has since become the highest-grossing South Korean film in history.

Bong’s reputation precedes itself, as does Pattinson’s, making their combined efforts on Mickey 17 feel a lot like a masterpiece in the making. There’s a lot to speculate on at the moment, including whether or not the movie adaptation will stick closely to the source material. Because the teaser trailer has arrived a full year and three months ahead of the film’s release date, it’ll be a ways to go before we have a bigger picture of the film. 

In addition to Pattinson, the film boasts a star-studded cast the likes of which include Mark Ruffalo (Avengers film series), Naomi Ackie (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker), and Toni Collette (Knives Out). Bong is also hard at work on a television spin-off of his Parasite, set to premiere on HBO. 

Mickey 17 will release to theaters in the United States and around the world on March 29, 2024.