Bong Joon-ho returns with his first project since 2019s groundbreaking ‘Parasite,’ which earned the director 4 Oscar Wins among 6 nominations. It’s safe to say that ‘Mickey 17’ has had years of anticipation, and the trailer is perhaps not quite what people were expecting…

Light on tone but heavy on subject matter, ‘Mickey 17’ is Bong Joon-ho’s satirical adaption of Edward Ashton's novel ‘Mickey7,’ and was announced to be in development in January 2022. The story tackles an ‘expendable’ employee on a human expedition sent to colonize the ice world Niflheim. After one version of Mickey dies, a new body is regenerated with most of his memories intact and with new lessons learned. It’s rinse, repeat, and grow situation.

In the book, Mickey dies seven times, but in the film, Bong Joon-ho opted for ten: “The number is the number of times he dies. I killed him 10 times more,” Bong said at CinemaCon back in April after revealing the first footage to audiences. “It’s a sci-fi movie, but it’s a human story.”

The cast includes Robert Pattinson as Mickey Barnes, Naomi Ackie as Nasha Adjaya, Steven Yeun as Berto, Toni Collette as Gwen Johansen, and Mark Ruffalo as Hieronymous Marshall.

‘Mickey 17’ was originally scheduled to be released on March 29, 2024. Warner Bros removed the film from their release slate due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strikes, delaying the film’s post-production process. In March 2024, it was announced that the film would be released in South Korea on January 28, 2025, three days before its global release on January 31, 2025.

This isn’t Bong’s first sci-fi film, previously tackling ‘Snowpiercer’ and ‘Okja.’

The film reportedly holds a budget of $150 million, making it the director’s biggest movie to date.