Bong Joon-ho’s Mickey 17 delayed to 2025; to open in January?

Mickey 17, the upcoming project from Bong Joon-ho, has reportedly been moved to January of next year, marking a rather curious release date for such a high-profile project, especially considering it will be the long-awaited follow-up to the director’s Best Picture winner Parasite.

Originally, Mickey 17 was slated for a March 29th, 2024 release date but was moved back once it was announced last month that Warner Bros. – who is also distributing Mickey 17 – would be putting out Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire on that date. While a studio directly clashing with itself wouldn’t make sense, that Warner Bros. has moved the movie so far back definitely feels like cause for concern. Added to that, January is typically seen as a dumping ground for movies, a place to toss the leftovers that never had any awards potential to begin with.

The plot of Mickey 17: “Whenever there’s a mission that’s too dangerous—even suicidal—the crew turns to Mickey. After one iteration dies, a new body is regenerated with most of his memories intact. After six deaths, Mickey7 understands the terms of his deal…and why it was the only colonial position unfilled when he took it.” In addition to Pattinson, Mickey 17 has a wealth of other talents on board, including Steven Yeun, Tony Collette, Naomi Ackie, and Mark Ruffalo.

Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite would be nominated for six Academy Awards, taking home four: the aforementioned top honor, Best Editing, Best International Feature, and Best Director, marking one of the few times an Asian filmmaker has taken home that trophy. But it’s extremely unlikely now that Bong Joon-ho will be headed to the Oscars again – not because we expect Mickey 17 to be a bad movie but because movies released in the first months of the year rarely have the legs to make it through awards season. Just for reference, Parasite premiered at May’s Cannes Film Festival, itself giving the movie a leg up as far as prestige.

With this release date shift, the gap between Parasite and Mickey 17 will be the largest between any Bong Joon-ho films, as it will be just under six years between the two.

Are you concerned for Mickey 17 over its new release date? Will you still catch it in theaters next year? Let us know below.