Bong Joon-Ho’s Zany Sci-Fi ‘Mickey 17’ Kills Robert Pattinson Over and Over — and Slays CinemaCon
“Parasite” director Bong Joon-Ho dropped by the Colosseum stage in Las Vegas for Warner Bros.’ CinemaCon presentation to offer his first full look at “Mickey 17,” his ambitious sci-fi starring Robert Pattinson. Though the trailer seen in Vegas wasn’t released online after the presentation, this was the first look at it since a teaser was released in December 2022, so we’ve been waiting a while.
Though the movie was pushed back from a release this year to now open in January 2025, we’re impressed by what we saw in Vegas. And Warner Bros. film heads Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy championed the film’s incredible sci-fi vision. They further announced that it will be released in IMAX.
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The trailer was a tongue-in-cheek, screwball dystopia of sorts, all scored to Frank Sinatra’s “Ain’t That a Kick In the Head.” We see Pattinson as Mickey, who is an Expendable: a disposable employee on a human expedition sent to colonize the ice world Niflheim. Whenever a mission is too dangerous — even suicidal — the crew turns to Mickey. After one iteration dies, a new body is regenerated with most of his memories intact.
“As an expendable, they made me work my ass off on one mission after another,” Pattinson’s character says in the trailer. “Even on my 17th go-around, I hate dying.”
The twist is that Mickey 17 inadvertently happens to be alive at the same time as Mickey 18, with Pattinson in a dual role each with different accents, that leads to even more mayhem as the people of this society have to deal with his “multiples.” Steven Yeun’s character even suggests that they simply play “Rock Paper Scissors” and kill the losers.
Bong explained on the CinemaCon stage that the book on which the film is based is called “Mickey 7” but they changed it to “Mickey 17” because, well, “I killed him 10 times more.” He also said he cast Pattinson, who joined him on stage in Vegas, that “he’s got a crazy thing in his eyes.”
Bong assembled a cast that also includes Naomi Ackie, Steven Yeun, Toni Collette, and Mark Ruffalo for the film he wrote, directed, and produced based on the novel by Edward Ashton. “Mickey 17” is produced by Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Bong Joon-Ho, and Dooho Choi.
“Mickey 17” opens in theaters January 31, 2025. It’s unclear if the film will be screened at any festivals prior to its wide theatrical release from Warner Bros.
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