Bong Joon Ho’s Robert Pattinson Sci-Fi

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Yesterday, the official X/Twitter account for director Bong Joon Ho‘s upcoming sci-fi film Mickey 17 uploaded an abbreviated clip featuring a chilly Robert Pattinson teasing the long-awaited arrival of the film’s trailer. “What’s it like to die?”, Pattinson’s character is asked as he perishes repeatedly. The trailer is here and our excitement couldn’t be higher for this one.

Mickey 17, based on the Edward Ashton book Mickey 7, follows a man named Mickey Barnes who, after being scanned by a machine, is tasked with assisting in colonizing an ice planet. The mysterious machine’s purpose is to reprint his body repeatedly until his task is complete. Should Mickey meet his untimely end by drowning, freezing to death, or zombie buffalo, no biggie. There’s more Mickey to go around so long as only one of him exists at a time—a paradox that becomes a problem when a reprint survives his scheduled termination. What follows are multiple versions of Mickey fighting (or playing rock paper scissors) to decide who will continue living while contending with the ice planet’s lethal environment and hostile lifeforms. In short, Mickey 17 is grade-A speculative fiction with a baker’s dozen more Pattinsons to add to the ensuing drama.

In addition to Pattinson(s), the film stars Steven Yeun, Naomi Ackie, Toni Collette, and Mark Ruffalo. On the production end of things, Mickey 17 will also see Oscar-nominated director of photography Darius Khondji (Okja) on board, alongside Oscar-nominated production designer Fiona Crombie (Cruella), Oscar-nominated editor Jinmo Yang (Parasite), costume designer Catherine George (Snowpiercer), visual effects supervisor Dan Glass (The Matrix), and Jae-il Jung (Parasite) providing the film’s score.

Mickey 17 was initially slated to release March 29, 2024, but was pushed back. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros. delayed it due to production shifts during the SAG-AFTRA strike—though its new release window was probably for the best, considering it would have had to contend with Elio, Kung Fu Panda 4, A Quiet Place: Day One, and Godzilla and Kong.

Mickey 17 releases in theaters January 31, 2025.

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