Warner Bros Collaboration on US Film
Schedule Delayed Due to Hollywood Strike
Move Possibly Aiming for May Cannes Film Festival Submission?
Director Bong Joon-ho may head back to Cannes five years after lifting the Palme d'Or with the film Parasite (2019).
The release of the American film Mickey 17, produced in collaboration with Hollywood major studio Warner Bros., has been postponed. The production company explained last year that more time was needed due to the Hollywood strike, but industry insiders see this move as a step toward submitting the film to the Cannes Film Festival opening this May.
On the 9th (local time), Variety reported that Warner Bros. decided to delay the release of the sci-fi film Mickey 17, originally scheduled for March 29 in North America. Instead, the release of Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire, initially planned for April 12, will be moved up to March 29. The delay was attributed to the four-month-long SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) strike last year, which affected post-production work. The reason given for the postponement was the need for additional time to enhance the film's quality.
Industry insiders believe that Mickey 17 is highly likely to have its world premiere at the 77th Cannes Film Festival opening this May. It is speculated that Warner Bros. is orchestrating a 'release delay' to maximize the film's buzz.
The Cannes Film Festival in France is regarded as one of the world's top three film festivals alongside the Venice Film Festival in Italy and the Berlin Film Festival in Germany, holding unparalleled prestige. Director Bong was invited to Cannes with films such as The Host (2006, Director's Fortnight), Tokyo! (2008, Un Certain Regard), Mother (2009, Un Certain Regard), Okja (2017, Competition), and Parasite (2019, Competition). With Parasite, he became the first Korean filmmaker to win the Palme d'Or. He is considered a filmmaker nurtured by Cannes.
When Warner Bros. initially announced that Mickey 17 would be released in March, there was considerable disappointment as it was expected that Bong would not appear at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Since Cannes requires films to be premiered for submission, a March release would have made a May Cannes invitation virtually impossible.
Mickey 17 is a sci-fi film adapted from the unpublished novel Mickey 7 by author Edward Ashton. It tells the story of a clone human pioneering an unknown planet. Ashton gifted Bong Joon-ho the manuscript ahead of its February release last year, and captivated by the novel, Bong immediately began adapting it into a film.
The production company Offscreen, producer Choi Doo-ho who worked on Okja (2017), and Brad Pitt’s Plan B are involved in the production, with Warner Bros. handling worldwide distribution. The cast is also star-studded. Actor Robert Pattinson plays the lead, with Mark Ruffalo, Toni Collette, Naomi Ackie, and Steven Yeun among the cast.
The film is attracting attention as a major project presented in collaboration with Hollywood studio Warner Bros. The production budget is approximately $150 million (about 194 billion KRW), double the budget of Bong’s film Okja (77.7 billion KRW), which was made with the American OTT platform Netflix. The Korean film industry is also paying close attention to this collaboration between a Hollywood studio with the largest production budget ever and a master filmmaker. If the film achieves significant success at Cannes, it could be regarded as another meaningful milestone in Bong’s career.
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