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Robert Downey Jr.'s talent was always obvious, but his appetite for drugs and alcohol made it easy for studios to deny him work throughout the first few decades of his career. The son of trailblazing independent filmmaker Robert Downey (whose "Putney Swope" is one of the most scabrous pieces of pop cultural satire you will ever see), Downey fils popped up on the periphery of 1980s favorites like "Weird Science" and "Back to School" before delivering his breakout performance as the redlining addict Julian Wells in Marek Kanievska's adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' "Less Than Zero."

Downey had the gift. He had it all. He was always the most exciting person on screen, which probably cheesed off some of his co-stars, but the kid couldn't help it. Like Eddie Murphy or Robin Williams, you were primed to laugh...

A24 released the first full trailer for Ari Aster’s Eddington on June 10, heightening anticipation for the pandemic-era Western ahead of its July 18 U.S. release.

The footage, shared across A24’s social channels and YouTube, quickly drew hundreds of thousands of views as fans dissected a sequence of Joaquin Phoenix’s sheriff unleashing gunfire down an empty main street.

Phoenix faces Pedro Pascal’s mayor in a small New Mexico town where Covid-19 mandates ignite a culture war—a plot Aster says he wrote while trapped in “a state of fear and anxiety about the world” during lockdown.

Emma Stone, Austin Butler, Luke Grimes and Deirdre O’Connell round out a cast that The Playlist calls the filmmaker’s “most star-studded ensemble.”

After premiering in competition at Cannes on May 16, the 145-minute film divided reviewers; The Guardian dismissed it as “bafflingly dull,” while Time labeled it a “wigged-out modern Western overstuffed with ideas.

A24 has revealed the new trailer for Eddington, the upcoming Western black comedy film written and directed by Ari Aster. The film had its world premiere at the main competition of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival on May 16.

Not yet rated by the Motion Picture Association (MPA), Eddington will be released in theaters on July 18.

The film is officially described as follows: “In May of 2020, a standoff between a small-town sheriff (Joaquin Phoenix) and mayor (Pedro Pascal) sparks a powder keg as neighbor is pitted against neighbor in Eddington, New Mexico.”

The cast includes Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Luke Grimes, Deirdre O’Connell, Micheal Ward, Amélie Hoeferle, Clifton Collins Jr., and William Belleau, with Austin Butler and Emma Stone.

Production for the film began in March 2024, with Aster writing, directing, and producing alongside Lars Knudsen under their Square Peg production company. A24 is financing and producing the movie.

Two-time Academy Award nominee...

Stars: Robert Pattinson, Mark Ruffalo, Toni Collette, Steven Yeun, Naomi Ackie, Holliday Grainger | Written and Directed by Bong Joon Ho

Writer-director Bong Joon Ho (Snowpiercer) returns to futuristic sci-fi for this space exploration thriller based on the 2022 novel by Edward Ashton (entitled Mickey7). As such, it’s not without its flaws, but it’s still a lot of fun, thanks to its gleefully bonkers premise and pair of committed central performances from Robert Pattinson.

Set in the distant future, the film centres on Mickey Barnes (Pattinson), a spaceship worker who has been designated an “expendable”, so-called because his body can be reprinted and his memories restored if he dies, which he does, a lot. While on a mission to colonise a remote ice planet, Mickey’s 17th iteration (known as Mickey 17) falls down a crevasse and is presumed dead, so when he miraculously survives and returns to base camp, he...

In Eddington, Ari Aster’s latest doom spiral, the proposed building of a data center in nowhere New Mexico provides the catalyst for a long-overdue psychological breakdown. The man in question is Sheriff Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix), whose perceived list of ills includes a worryingly online mother-in-law (Deirdre O’Connell), a disinterested, catatonic wife (Emma Stone), a woke mayor (Pedro Pascal) with plans to build a state of the art data centre, and the familiar inconveniences of Covid-19. Should even reading that word cause discomfort, it’s nothing if not intended: since rewiring the horror genre with A24, Aster has been repositioning himself as cinema’s patron saint of debilitating anxiety. Hereditary is probably best-remembered for its brutal decapitation but, all these years later, one suspects the scariest thing for Aster was whether or not his protagonist, an artist with an imminent exhibition and a nervy benefactor, will make her deadline.

The Doha Film Institute has unveiled the shape of its upcoming Doha Film Festival, which looks poised to become a prominent event dedicated to auteur cinema from around the world in the Middle East and North Africa region.

The fest transforms the Dfi’s existing Ajyal Film Festival dedicated to youth and family-friendly cinema into a more ambitious international event for a broader audience. It will have four competition strands: international feature film competition; short film competition; the Ajyal film competition, judged by the festival’s unique youth jury; and the Made in Qatar competition, dedicated to projects made in Qatar, regardless of the director’s provenance.

The reconfigured event is being endowed with a total prize pot of over $300,000 that places it on a monetary par with Saudi Arabia’s more glitzy Red Sea Film festival in Jeddah.

In the international sphere, the top prizes to be dished out will be best narrative,...

Cannes film festival

Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone and Austin Butler have little to work with in this disappointing dud from the Hereditary and Midsommar director

Ari Aster now worryingly creates a losing streak with this bafflingly dull movie, a laborious and weirdly self-important satire which makes a heavy, flavourless meal of some uninteresting and unoriginal thoughts – on the Covid lockdown, online conspiracy theories, social polarisation, Black Lives Matter, liberal-white privilege and guns.

The movie looks good, courtesy of Darius Khondji’s cinematography, but has nothing new or dramatically vital to say, and moreover manages the extraordinary achievement of making Emma Stone, Pedro Pascal and Joaquin Phoenix look like boring actors. This is by virtue of its moderate script and by the unvarying stolid pace over its hefty running time which might have suited a 12-episode streamer.

Eddington is a fictional small town in New Mexico in the US,...

Warner Bros. Pictures’ Mickey 17 will make its global streaming debut on Max (soon to be HBO Max again) on Friday, May 23. In addition to the Mickey 17 Max release, the film will debut on HBO linear on Saturday, May 24 at 7:40 p.m. Et.

From Bong Joon Ho, the Academy Award-winning writer/director of Parasite, comes this groundbreaking cinematic experience. The unlikely hero, Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson), has found himself in the extraordinary circumstance of working for an employer who demands the ultimate commitment to the job… to die, for a living.

The movie, which was rated R for violent content, language throughout, sexual content, and drug material, opened in theaters on March 7, 2025. The film grossed $131.8 million at the global box office, with $46 million coming from North American theaters and $85.8 million from international markets.

Written and directed by Bong Joon Ho, Mickey 17 stars Robert Pattinson, Naomi Ackie (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker...

Qatar, the tiny Arab state rich in oil and gas that recently offered to replace Donald Trump’s Air Force One with a $400 million jet likened to a “palace in the sky,” is at Cannes signaling its ambitions to take its nascent film and TV business to the next level.

The Qatar Film Committee, an official body that is part of the Media City Qatar hub and is tasked with driving growth of the country’s entertainment industry, is at the festival and led by Hassan Al Thawadi. He is the Qatari lawyer who oversaw 2022 FIFA World Cup soccer tournament, which was considered a triumph for the country. Al Thawadi has now added the movie biz to his oversight. Furthermore, two sources familiar with the global film scene said top players in the emirate have initiated discussions with U.S. showbiz executives about co-financing and producing original content.

It comes as Hollywood,...

It’s the most exciting time of the year for a cinephile: the Cannes Film Festival is set to kick off next week, running May 13th-25th. Ahead of festivities we’ve rounded up what we’re most looking forward to, and while we’re sure many surprises await, per every year, one will find twenty films that should be on your radar. Check out our picks below and be sure to subscribe to our daily newsletter for the latest updates from the festival.

Alpha (Julia Ducournau)

Winning the Palme d’Or for your previous film is a pretty high bar to clear for your next. It’s also among the best problems any filmmaker could have. Four years after Spike Lee’s jury handed the coveted prize to the first female filmmaker in Cannes history––and one of the most violent films to ever take home a Palme––maverick...

Oscar-nominated movie star Timothée Chalamet may have graduated from high school 12 years ago, but he came back recently to pay a visit during his alma mater’s career day. The A Complete Unknown star, who graduated in 2013, returned to New York City’s Fiorello H. Laguardia High School to speak with students in a Career Management class there. This follows his recent Oscar nomination for A Complete Unknown, which was his secont Best Actor nomination after he was up for Call Me by Your Name in 2018.

The school posted several pictures from the event on its official Instagram page, thanking the Dune actor for speaking there. The school captioned the picture: When you have a guest speaker for your Career Management class……. and Timothée Chalamet walks in the room…. you know it’s going to be a great day! Thank you [Chalamet] for visiting Lag today and providing important advice for our aspiring actors.

A24 has released the official trailer for Eddington, the upcoming Western black comedy film written and directed by Ari Aster. The movie will have its World Premiere at the main competition of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.

Not yet rated by the Motion Picture Association (MPA), Eddington will be released in theaters on July 18, 2025.

The film is officially described as follows: “In May of 2020, a standoff between a small-town sheriff (Joaquin Phoenix) and mayor (Pedro Pascal) sparks a powder keg as neighbor is pitted against neighbor in Eddington, New Mexico.”

The cast includes Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Luke Grimes, Deirdre O’Connell, Micheal Ward, Amélie Hoeferle, Clifton Collins Jr., and William Belleau, with Austin Butler and Emma Stone.

Production for the film began in March 2024, with Aster writing, directing, and producing alongside Lars Knudsen under their Square Peg production company. A24 is financing and producing the movie.

Two-time Academy Award nominee Darius Khondji...

Ari Aster’s “Eddington” is already creating buzz, weeks before its Cannes premiere. Aster reunites with his “Beau Is Afraid” star Joaquin Phoenix for the secretive dark comedy. Per scarce plot details, Phoenix plays a small-town New Mexico sheriff with higher aspirations, who gets into a conflict with the town mayor (Pedro Pascal). The film’s first teaser, below, situates us clearly in 2020 as Phoenix’s character doom-scrolls through images of 2020 involving Covid and Black Lives Matter protests.

Emma Stone, Austin Butler, Luke Grimes, Deirdre O’Connell, Micheal Ward, Clifton Collins Jr., William Belleau, Cameron Mann, Matt Gomez Hidaka, and Amélie Hoeferle also star in Aster’s fourth feature. The film’s official logline reads: “In May of 2020, a standoff between a small-town sheriff (Phoenix) and mayor (Pascal) sparks a powder keg as neighbor is pitted against neighbor in Eddington, New Mexico.”

There have also been rumors that the movie also...

It’s official: Ari Aster‘s “Eddington” will have its world premiere in competition at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. And to celebrate, A24 has a new first-look image and poster for the upcoming film. It’s not much (and it’s not an official release date), but enough to confirm Aster’s latest will be in theaters soon enough.

Read More: ‘Eddington’ First Look: Ari Aster’s Cannes-Bound Western Pic Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone & More

Movie fans already knew “Eddington” was likely headed to Cannes thanks to comments made by the film’s Dp Darius Khondji last weekend.

Continue reading ‘Eddington’ First-Look Pic & Poster: Ari Aster’s Pandemic-Era Western Will Premiere In Competition At Cannes 2025 at The Playlist.

The Doha Film Institute’s Qumra workshop wrapped on Wednesday after six days of masterclasses, labs and mentoring sessions held in the Qatari capital aiming to connect the Arab filmmaking community with the rest of the world. The event’s 11th edition unfolded against the backdrop of a broken Middle East ceasefire and U.S. President Donald Trump’s trumpeted tariffs, but these happenings did not disrupt the event’s positive tone.

Qumra, named after the Arab word believed to be the origin of “camera,” saw some 300 top industry reps — including sales agents, producers and top festival programmers — congregate in Doha, which played a key role in mediation efforts between Hamas and Israel. The event unveiled a new crop of first and second works mostly by Arab directors comprising 49 projects, 27 of which are feature films, either in development or post-production.

Many projects are supported by the Doha Film Institute, which...

Doha Film Institute CEO Fatma Al Remaihi has confirmed plans for a new film festival to be launched in the Qatari capital in November 2025, details of which will be unveiled in Cannes.

News that the Dfi was planning a new film event surfaced last November during its Ajyal Film Festival dedicated to youth and family-friendly cinema. Al Remaihi mentioned it during Ajyal’s opening ceremony but she never spoke about it since then.

The new Dfi event will take place during Ajyal’s customary November slot and will be an evolution of Ajyal.

November is a busy time on the Arab film festival circuit between Egypt’s El Gouna in October, Marrakech in late November and Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival in December.

“We are very excited about the upcoming edition,” Al Remaihi told Variety. “We will have new programming elements in the festival, both for the industry and the filmmakers,...

Mexican costume designer Anna Terrazas says the uniqueness of Albuquerque, New Mexico helped her understand the “essence” of Ari Aster’s upcoming Eddington.

Speaking to Screen after her masterclass at the Doha Film Institute’s Qumra lab, Terrazas said, “I sent Ari a huge amount of research, and a lot of things did work; but the essence wasn’t truly there. So I had to arrive to Albuquerque [where the film shot] and go out to the streets and towns, just to see what was happening – that place is unique.”

“If people describe it to you, it’s not the same,” said Terrazas. “You...

Costume designer Anna Terrazas has spent her career working between her native Mexico and the U.S., on films and shows including Roma, The Deuce, Bardo – False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths and most recently Eddington.

Speaking to Deadline at the Doha Film Institute’s Qumra project and talent incubator on Tuesday, she revealed her fear as she traveled to the U.S. earlier this year in the wake of Donald Trump’s presidency and his attacks on Mexico.

“I went back to New Mexico for Eddington, for a couple of things, and Trump was president. When we shot, he wasn’t there yet,” said Terrazas.

“For the first time, when I crossed, I had a weird feeling. I have a visa, an O1 visa, that I have been having for almost 15 years… But this time when I entered the U.S, I was a tiny bit afraid. I was like,...

The Cannes Film Festival will reveal its 2025 lineup on Thursday morning European time and expectations are high for a typically bountiful lineup of starry fare and arthouse treats. Cannes remains the Super Bowl for indie film lovers.

It’s always a nervous waiting game for those connected to Cannes hopefuls. Multiple festival regulars have told us that selectors are later than ever in giving them notice. The festival has often announced a major movie or two by now, but not this year. The identity of Juliette Binoche‘s fellow jury members are still also under wraps.

In terms of films in the running, much of the reporting we did in February in our Cannes and Venice prediction piece has either come to pass or is shaping up as we forecast. You can read that story here.

Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning remains the most likely big Hollywood studio splash.

Timothee Chalamet trained for months to play ping pong like a professional for his role 'Marty Supreme'.The Hollywood actor plays a ping pong champion who has an affair with an older woman - played by Gwyneth Paltrow - in 'Marty Supreme' and it's now been revealed the 'Dune' star practised hard so he could perform like a "real" player on camera.'Marty Supreme' cinematographer Darius Khondji told Variety: "You can do anything, any camera tricks you want, but you need to have a core [to play ping pong] ... "He wanted to be like a real [professional] ping pong player when he started shooting.Khondji went on to reveal that Chalamet filmed his role in 'Marty Supreme' alongside some real stars of the sport, adding the actor was surrounded by "some of the greatest real ping pong champions playing today".He said of the lead actor: "I don’t...

Fresh off the success of his Oscar-nominated role of Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown, Timothée Chalamet is set to appear as table tennis legend Marty Reisman in Josh Safdie’s Marty Supreme. The film's cinematographer, Darius Khondji, recently revealed that audiences won't recognize Chalamet "at all" in the film and also provided some insight into how hard the rising star actor worked to bring Reisman to the big screen.

Speaking with Variety, Khondji revealed that Chalamet, who famously spent years preparing to play the iconic folk singer Bob Dylan in James Mangold's A Complete Unknown, used the same work ethic for his role of real-life table tennis legend Marty Reisman in A24'sMarty Supreme. "He wanted to be like a real [professional] ping pong player when he started shooting," Knondji said. Marty Supreme won't be a conventional biopic, instead, it will be loosely based on the life of Marty Resiman,...

Timothée Chalamet trained “for months and months” for his title role in Josh Safdie’s upcoming “Marty Supreme” about professional ping pong player Marty Reisman, reports Darius Khondji, the hotly anticipated film’s ace cinematographer. He added that he expects the A24 film’s Christmas 2025 release “to be box office dynamite.”

Khondji, who spoke to Variety on the sidelines of the Doha Film Institute’s Qumra workshop where he is a mentor, hasn’t yet seen “Marty Supreme,” which is now being edited in New York. But he underlined that “everything I hear is spectacular,” adding that “the shooting was so hard and crazy.”

Chalamet, who prepared for five years to play Bob Dylan in “A Complete Unknown,” also trained intensely for his role as Reisman – who started his career as a hustler in Manhattan and went on to win 22 major ping pong titles from 1946 to 2002 – “because you can do anything,...

Cinematographer Darius Khondji has confirmed that Ari Aster’s upcoming film Eddington is scheduled to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. Khondji made the comment during an appearance at the Doha Film Institute’s Qumra event over the weekend, where he spoke about his recent and upcoming work.

The French-Iranian cinematographer, a two-time Oscar nominee, said he will be returning to New York to complete color work on Eddington with longtime collaborator Yvan Lucas. “I’m going back to New York to do the color for Eddington that’s going to Cannes, I hear,” Khondji told Deadline. “Ari showed me the film. I heard it was going to Cannes two weeks ago.”

The film, financed and produced by A24, stars Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, and Emma Stone. Described as a dark comedy Western thriller, Eddington follows a small-town sheriff in New Mexico navigating a power struggle with a corrupt mayor during a pandemic.

Cinematographer Darius Khondji has confirmed that Ari Aster’s dark comedy Eddington, starring Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal and Emma Stone, has been selected for the Cannes Film Festival.

Speaking to Deadline at the Doha Film Institute’s Qumra event this weekend, Khondji, who is cinematographer on the title, said the feature was in the final stages of post-production.

“I’m going back to New York to do the color for Eddington that’s going to Cannes, I hear,” said two-time Oscar nominee Khondji. “Ari showed me the film. I heard it was going to Cannes two weeks ago.”

“It’s a great film, a very interesting film. It’s very raw, very, very strong, one of the strongest films that I’ve worked on that I really think is going to be fantastic.”

Billed as a black comedy Western thriller, Phoenix stars as an ambitious small-town New Mexico sheriff who goes up against his mayor,...

Bong Joon Ho, Safdie brothers and Alejandro G. Iñárritu collaborator Darius Khondji may be regarded as one of the most innovative cinematographers of his generation, but he still has a soft spot for celluloid.

Speaking in a masterclass at the Doha Film Institute’s Qumra event over the weekend, Khondji made an appeal to camera makers to revive film models which have not been manufactured since the early 2000s at the latest.

Clarifying his comments to Deadline after the masterclass, Khondji explained: “This is so important. Film cameras are from the 80s. They have not been updated. The camera bodies, the system, the viewing systems… they [directors] are all using old cameras, which is fine, but they’re almost disappearing little by little.”

“People like Panavision or Arri should start investing and putting money into making new film cameras,” he continued. “So many young filmmakers all around the world, everywhere in every country,...

Darius Khondji says Ari Aster’s Eddington is going to be “very different from his other movies”, as he prepares to begin colouring the film ahead of what he claims will be a Cannes launch.

The acclaimed French-Iranian cinematographer spoke to Screen after his masterclass on Saturday, April 5 at the Doha Film Institute’s Qumra lab.

With a cast including Joaquin Phoenix and Emma Stone, Khondji says Eddington has “actors that I was dreaming to work with again.”

“It’s going to be very different from his other movies,” said Khondji. “Ari is a deep, strong filmmaker. He has the talent,...

Fatma Al Remaihi, CEO of the Doha Film Institute (Dfi), spoke out against the attack by Israeli settlers on and arrest by Israeli police of Hamdan Ballal, co-director of Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land.

“The recent attack on Palestinian filmmaker Hamdan Ballal proves that even winning the most prestigious award, an Oscar, does not offer any safety from violent oppression by the occupation,” said Al Remaihi, speaking at the opening of the 2025 edition of the Dfi’s Qumra lab. Ballal was released the day after his arrest.

Remarking that this year marks the 15th anniversaryof Dfi, Al Remaihi said, “We...

Brazilian director Walter Salles kicks off the 11th Doha Film Institute’s Qumra meeting this Friday, in one of his first international appearances since political drama I’m Still Here won the Best International Feature Film Academy Award on March 2.

Running from April 4 to 9 in Doha, and then online from April 12 to 14, annual talent and project incubator Qumra will host the directors and producers of 49 works supported by Qatar’s Doha Film Institute (Dfi) in various stages of development and production.

Salles is attending as a “Qumra Master” alongside Filipino filmmaker Lav Diaz, Iranian and French cinematographer Darius Khondji, Mexican costume designer Anna Terrazas and Hong Kong filmmaker Johnnie To.

In this role, they will each give a masterclass on their careers and lessons learned for the emerging filmmakers in the room and also mentor a...

The Doha Film Institute’s Qumra workshop kicks off Friday with the cream of the Arab cinema crop on display – including several timely Palestinian projects – and a host of top industry professionals expected to make the trek to the Qatari capital.

Standout titles set to be unveiled in Doha – which played a key role in mediation efforts between Hamas and Israel – comprise sci-fi thriller “In Memory of Times to Come” (see concept still above), a first feature from Danish-Palestinian artist Larissa Sansour, who represented Denmark at the 58th Venice Visual Arts Biennale. The film is set 30 years from now when, following an “eco apocalypse,” a woman and her husband lead a peaceful life in a restored Bethlehem townhouse, according to the synopsis.

“In Memory,” which will start shooting this fall is produced by Anna Köhncke (“The Act of Killing”) and multiple Oscar-nominated Monica Hellström. The film delves into the complexities of memory,...

Will the realities of capitalism sink the awards hopes for Mickey 17, a movie that’s a forceful critique of the realities of capitalism? Released on March 7, the Bong Joon Ho science-fiction farce has earned just $40 million in North America and $110 million worldwide, which, according to Variety, may result in a loss of up to $80 million for Warner Bros., the film’s distributor. (There is some dispute about that figure’s veracity; the film cost a reported $118 million before marketing.) Still, despite the negative headlines about its box office and a middling response from general audiences — ticket buyers rated Mickey 17 with a B grade on CinemaScore, which, counterintuitively, is poor for a project at this scale — there is still some hope Mickey 17 might rebound with Oscar voters next year.

The case for Mickey 17

After winning three Oscars for Parasite, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay,...

After a brief delay, Bong Joon Ho’s latest sci-fi epic, Mickey 17, is finally playing in theaters. The Live, Die, Repeat-like feature is off to a solid start with $2.5M in Thursday preview screenings. Bong Joon Ho is one of South Korea’s premiere filmmakers, having released films like Snowpiercer, The Host, Okja, and the Academy Award-winning psychological drama Parasite. His latest exploration of sci-fi themes stars Robert Pattinson as an “expendable” who goes on a dangerous mission to colonize an ice planet. As Mickey fails one mission attempt after the other, new versions of him try to complete the mission, but when the process goes awry, Mickey finds himself trapped in a deadly paradox. Mickey 17 has a good chance of reaching the top of the box office this weekend, but what’s the breakdown?

Analysts expect Mickey 17 to bank $17M to $20M domestically and $20M to $25M internationally.

Bong Joon-ho is back, and this time he’s swapping class warfare for existential dread. The Oscar-winning director behind Parasite takes a bold leap into sci-fi territory with Mickey 17, a genre-bending, darkly comic meditation on identity, labour and what it means to be human — all wrapped up in a wildly entertaining package.

Adapted from Edward Ashton’s 2022 novel Mickey7, the film stars Robert Pattinson as Mickey Barnes, a low-ranking worker on an unforgiving ice planet, where human life is cheap and clones are even cheaper. Whenever Mickey dies on the job — and it happens a lot — a fresh version is printed, memories intact, ready to pick up where the last one left off. But things get complicated when Mickey 17 is mistakenly presumed dead, only to return and find Mickey 18 already occupying his bunk, his relationships, and his sense of purpose. What follows is part existential crisis, part slapstick nightmare, with...

“Mickey 17” is here.

The latest from director Bong Joon-ho, coming off of his 2019 Oscar powerhouse “Parasite,” stars Robert Pattinson, Mark Ruffalo, Tony Collette, Naomi Ackie and Steven Yuen. It’s based on a book that was released a couple of years ago by Edward Ashton (it already has a sequel) and had a number of release dates before finally settling on March 7 – that’s this week.

Chances are you’ve seen a trailer. Or maybe a weird, vaguely psychedelic billboard with multiple Pattinsons. But do you know what “Mickey 17” even is? Like, really know? Well, we are here to clear everything up for you. Buckle up.

What is “Mickey 17?”

It’s a major motion picture being released by Warner Bros. on March 7, 2025.

How long is “Mickey 17?”

137 minutes! Pretty good for a sci-fi epic!

What is “Mickey 17” rated?

R. Don’t take the kiddies.

Where is it playing?...

It has been five years since Bong Joon Ho won three Oscars for Parasite, shocking the industry and bringing the cult auteur into the Hollywood mainstream. Finally, the South Korean filmmaker has returned with his biggest project yet: Mickey 17, the long-delayed science-fiction movie that Warner Bros. has out in theaters now.

Set in the near future, Mickey 17 stars Robert Pattinson as the title character and his several other versions. Mickey is known as an “expendable” in Bong’s latest project; those people sacrificed to the greater needs of capitalism and returned to life to do it all over again via scientific whizbang. Pattinson plays two versions of the character simultaneously (something previewed in the trailer). Costars include Naomie Ackie and Steven Yeun, plus Mark Ruffalo and Toni Collette as buffonish fascists who bear a striking resemblance to some of America’s current political leadership.

Mickey 17 is the...

Plot: In the future, Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson), who’s in debt to loan sharks, takes the one job no one could ever possibly want. He signs up to be an “expendable” on an off-world colony where he’s given hazardous tasks to perform that no one is expected to survive. Every time he dies, they “print” another copy of him. However, when his seventeenth iteration, Mickey 17, unexpectedly survives a mission, he discovers another version, Mickey 18, has already been printed, and in this society, multiples are expressly outlawed.

Review: One has to give Warner Bros some degree of credit for green-lighting Mickey 17. Easily the most lavish movie of director Bong Joon-Ho’s career, it’s the kind of original, audacious sci-fi we rarely see on the big screen anymore. The fact that it doesn’t entirely work is almost beside the point, as stuff like this so rarely...

The Doha Film Institute (Dfi) has unveiled the 49 projects across all formats that will be showcased at the 11th edition of its Qumra development and networking event in April.

They include Quarter to Thursday from Algerian director Sofia Djama, about three friends on a mission to bury a dachshund in a military base, which is in development. Djama’s last feature The Blessed won a slew of awards in Venice Horizons in 2017, and delivered a breakout best actress role for rising French-Algerian actress Lyna Khoudri.

The selection also features Syrian director Anas Khalaf’s Love 45 about an overweight Lebanese man who is caught in a destructive spiral, which is in production. Khalaf’s previous credits include the Syria, Bashar al-Assad-era set thriller The Translator.

The picture lock line-up includes Tunisian director Erige Sehiri’s Marie & Jolie about three Ivorian women from different generations making a life in in the...

Walter Salles, Johnnie To, Lav Diaz, Darius Khondji and Anna Terrazas will serve as Qumra Masters at the 11th edition of the Doha Film Institute’s annual talent and project incubator.

They follow in the wake of some 50 top cinemas figures who have also taken up the role over the past 10 editions, including Claire Denis, Leos Carax, Tilda Swinton, Gael Garcia Bernal and James Gray.

The event, running from April 4 to 9, will invite the producers and directors of some 40 projects supported by the Doha Film Institute (Dfi) for six days of development support and networking.

Brazilian director Salles (The Motorcycle Diaries) will be in attendance at the meeting fresh from his buzzy awards season with his Oscar-nominated drama I’m Still Here.

Filipino director Diaz brings his vision of a special brand of slow cinema which includes films such as The Woman Who Left and Evolution of a Filipino Family.

Iranian-French...

The Doha Film Institute has recruited Oscar nominee Walter Salles (“I’m Still Here”), iconic Hong Kong director Johnnie To, prominent Filipino auteur Lav Diaz, ace cinematographer Darius Khondji and master Mexican costume designer Anna Terrazas to hold onstage conversations and act as mentors during its upcoming Qumra Arab industry incubator.

The event, now celebrating its 11th edition, will run April 4-9 in the Qatari capital of Doha.

Qumra, which means “camera” in Arabic, blends together a creative workshop, co-production market and festival elements. It was established by the Doha Film Institute (Dfi) to help foster first and second works, mostly by Arab directors, and to create curated networking opportunities between the Arab and international film communities.

The Dfi is a major indie Arab film industry driver and has also been providing funding for Arab TV series for the past few years. Qumra 2025 will feature a selection of top notch Arab films in various stages,...

Brazilian filmmaker Walter Salles and Filipino director Lav Diaz are among the five Masters invited to the 11th edition of the Doha Film Institute’s Qumra lab.

Hong Kong filmmaker Johnnie To, Mexican costume designer Anna Terrazas and Iranian-French cinematographer Darius Khondji round out the 2025 Masters.

The 11th edition of Qumra will run from April 4-9 in Doha, Qatar.

The Masters will give one-on-one mentorship to the Qumra lab participants, and will each give a masterclass about their careers.

Salles is nearing the end of an awards campaign for his 10th feature film I’m Still Here. The film debuted in competition at Venice last year,...

Stars: Robert Pattinson, Mark Ruffalo, Toni Collette, Steven Yeun, Naomi Ackie, Holliday Grainger | Written and Directed by Bong Joon Ho

Writer-director Bong Joon Ho (Snowpiercer) returns to futuristic sci-fi for this space exploration thriller based on the 2022 novel by Edward Ashton (entitled Mickey7). As such, it’s not without its flaws, but it’s still a lot of fun, thanks to its gleefully bonkers premise and pair of committed central performances from Robert Pattinson.

Set in the distant future, the film centres on Mickey Barnes (Pattinson), a spaceship worker who has been designated an “expendable”, so-called because his body can be re-printed and his memories restored if he dies, which he does, a lot. While on a mission to colonise a remote ice planet, Mickey’s 17th iteration (known as Mickey 17) falls down a crevasse and is presumed dead, so when he miraculously survives and returns to base camp, he...

Is Mark Ruffalo giving a Trump impression? It’s early into Bong Joon Ho’s Mickey 17 when the actor struts into the frame in a velvety blazer, wife Ylfa (Toni Collette) in tow, gloating as a crowd stands and claps like he’s the second coming of Christ. Ruffalo is Kenneth Marshall, leader of some cult-adjacent Church and one-time presidential candidate behind a new space mission designed to yank humanity from a near-inhospitable Earth and drop it onto Niflheim, a planet in some remote corner of the galaxy. A hopeless narcissist surrounded by a cabal of yes-men armed with cameras immortalizing his every move, he speaks with impossibly white teeth forever bared in a self-congratulatory grimace, nostrils flared, vowels ever so slightly drawn out. In a film ostensibly following not one but two (!) Robert Pattinsons, it’s Ruffalo that takes center stage. And if his diction and mannerisms instantly...

While two Mickeys may be better than one, by the time you get to seven or eight (the idea of Edward Ashton’s sci-fi novel “Mickey7”), or a number as unwieldy as 18 (the inflated figure in Bong Joon Ho’s big-screen adaptation), the prospect of an endless supply of gawping Robert Pattinson clones really starts to wear on us. The “Snowpiercer” director is back in familiar territory with “Mickey 17,” a bonkers sci-fi satire set in a grim future where Earth is no longer habitable, other planets must be colonized and the success of a four-year mission to the ice planet Niflheim depends on disposable human copies called Expendables.

Pattinson has traversed deep space before, doing so in Claire Denis’ relatively elegant arthouse feature “High Life.” Here, the star dumbs it down to suit Bong’s big-budget grunge-topian vision, playing a sucker so desperate to escape a ruthless loan shark...

Although it is science-fiction to its core, director Bong Joon Ho’s first film since his Oscar-winning Parasite six years ago is in many ways a not-that-absurd look at where we just might be headed as a society.

Mickey 17 on its surface is about a hapless, slightly less than average macaroon chef who no longer can take Earth and its ever-so-decaying condition that has led thousands daily to board a spaceship to a more promising planet life — or so they think. Nevertheless, Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) is just a guy whose life is seen as expendable (a word he uses on his application), and like a lab rat, his new day job is — wait for it — dying. Yes, Mickey is part of constant experiments to help researchers see what causes death and disease, and so he is put through the ringer and reprinted repeatedly, dying over and over again,...

Following the awards-season favorites The Brutalist, Anora, and A Different Man, A24 is gearing up for another big year. 2025 will see the release of Alex Garland's Civil War follow-up, Warfare, as well as Josh Safdie's Marty Supreme and a new film from Hereditary and Midsommar filmmaker Ari Aster. The director is taking his shot in the Western genre with his upcoming film Eddington, which is eyeing a summer release following a Cannes premiere in May.

Written and directed by Aster, Eddington stars Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone, and Austin Butler. As reported by Variety, the film will be coming to the European Film Market in Berlin this month, and could possibly be the director's first title to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. A24 is said to be setting its sights on a summer release for the star-studded film, which reunites Aster with Phoenix following Beau Is Afraid.

A24 is bringing “Eddington,” Ari Aster’s hotly-anticipated contemporary Western thriller starring Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone and Austin Butler, to the European Film Market in Berlin this month, Variety has learned.

Also starring Deirdre O’Connell, Micheal Ward and Clifton Collins Jr., the film is now in post-production and is believed to revolve around a couple stranded in a small New Mexico town. Though they are initially welcomed, the town takes a sinister turn by nightfall. Phoenix portrays the town’s sheriff with ambitious dreams.

Variety also understands that “Eddington” could be in contention for Cannes debut — which would make it Aster’s first film as director to bow at the festival — with A24 targeting a summer release.

Production on “Eddington” kicked off in March 2024, with Aster writing, directing and producing alongside Lars Knudsen under their Square Peg banner. Two-time Academy Award nominee Darius Khondji is the director of photography.

Warner Bros. Pictures has just shared a new trailer (via SFFGazette.com) for Mickey 17, the next groundbreaking cinematic experience from the Academy Award-winning writer/director of Parasite, Bong Joon Ho.

In the movie, the unlikely hero, Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) has found himself in the extraordinary circumstance of working for an employer who demands the ultimate commitment to the job...to die, for a living.

This sneak peek offers a better idea of what to expect from Mickey 17 after it was pushed from its previous 2024 release. The movie looks thought-provoking and bonkers in equal measure, and Pattinson looks like he's having a blast as this "Expendable."

Talking to Elle earlier this week, the actor confirmed rumours that he initially based Mickey's voice on Jackass icon Steve-o:

"I used to love, and I still do love, Jackass. I remember listening to an interview with Steve-o years ago and he...

Sure, Robert Pattinson may be getting killed again and again in “Mickey 17,” but the real resurrection story comes from the film’s musical chairs of release dates.

After being delayed due to strikes, post-production, and just plain old calendar reshuffling, “Mickey 17” will finally open on March 7; on Wednesday, January 22, we got a new trailer.

Bong Joon Ho’s “next groundbreaking cinematic experience” (as promised by Warner Bros. Discovery) centers on Pattinson’s titular character Mickey Barnes, who finds himself in the extraordinary circumstance of working for an employer who demands the ultimate commitment to the job…to die, for a living.

Mark Ruffalo, Steven Yeun, Toni Collette, and Naomi Ackie also star.

“Parasite” writer/director Bong penned the script based on the novel “Mickey 7” by Edward Ashton. Bong also produces along with Dooho Choi. “Mickey 17” will screen at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival and opens in...

Robert Pattinson stars as Mickey, an employee who signs up to become an “Expendable” in Bong Joon-ho’s comedic sci-fi movie Mickey 17. Warner Bros. released the second trailer this morning, teasing the myriad of ways in which Pattinson’s character will die for his job.

The theatrical release date is now set for March 7, 2025.

In the upcoming movie written and directed by Bong Joon Ho, “An unlikely hero, Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson), has found himself in the extraordinary circumstance of working for an employer who demands the ultimate commitment to the job… to die, for a living.”

Toni Collette, Steven Yeun, Mark Ruffalo and Naomi Ackie also star in Mickey 17, based on based on the novel Mickey 7 by Edward Ashton. Bong Joon-Ho writes and directs.

Mickey 17 has officially been rated “R” for “violent content, language throughout, sexual content, and drug material.“ Some of that violence is on...

Warner Bros. Pictures has released the new trailer and poster for Mickey 17, the next film from Oscar-winning writer, director, and producer Bong Joon Ho. The movie, which is rated R for violent content, language throughout, sexual content, and drug material, will open in theaters on March 7, 2025.

Mickey 17 is based on the novel entitled Mickey7 by Edward Ashton. The follow-up to Mickey7 is titled Antimatter Blues.

From the Academy Award-winning writer/director of Parasite, Bong Joon Ho, comes his next groundbreaking cinematic experience, Mickey 17. The unlikely hero, Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) has found himself in the extraordinary circumstance of working for an employer who demands the ultimate commitment to the job… to die, for a living.

Written and directed by Bong Joon Ho, Mickey 17 stars Robert Pattinson, Naomi Ackie (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker) and Steven Yeun (Nope), with Academy Award nominees Toni Collette (Hereditary) and Mark Ruffalo...

By 1995, David Fincher was an acclaimed music video director whose studio-micromanaged and -mangled foray into feature filmmaking (1992’s Alien³) proved so exasperating and humiliating that he nearly swore off of making full-length movies ever again. But upon being sent a script about a serial killer who commits a series of gruesome, elaborately staged murders, Fincher found himself sufficiently intrigued to take on the project but only if New Line Cinema didn’t compromise the bleakness of the material. He got his way, and a filmmaker seemingly bound to retreat from Hollywood subsequently emerged as one of its brightest stars of the decade.

Set in an unnamed city so crime-ridden, paranoid, and rotting at the seams that it makes Batman’s Gotham look like Xanadu, Se7en would be bleak and unsettling enough even if it dealt with everyday crime. But the crimes that veteran detective William Somerset (Morgan Freeman) and newly...