Everything to Know About Bong Joon-Ho’s Upcoming Sci-Fi Movie

From the sound of it, the plot outline might be something along the lines of Avatar by way of Moon. The source material burrows deep into sticky ethical dilemmas and juggles many ideas, so it should be right up director Bong’s alley given his track record and predilection for genre-hopping. In vintage Bong fashion, however, there will surely be plenty of unexpected thrills to be had.

The title role is played by former-teen-heartthrob-turned-arthouse-icon Pattinson, who was last seen as Gotham’s caped crusader in Matt Reeves’ Batman reboot. “The movie is so crazy, like nothing I’ve ever done before,” the actor told ES Magazine. Equally as exciting is the confirmed presence of Steven Yeun, who uncorked one of last year’s standout performances in Nope, alongside a star-studded cast including Tilda Swinton, Naomi Ackie, Mark Ruffalo, and Toni Colette.

Bong Joon-ho returns to Hollywood for the first time in five years with an adaptation of Edward Ashton’s sci-fi novel “Mickey 17.”

Netflix

When Parasite swept the Oscars, becoming the first non-English-language film to break the Best Picture barrier, the general feeling was that Hollywood had finally overcome its own systemic racism to champion the actual best movie of the year. Not only did Bong’s win mark a historical breakthrough in terms of media representation but Asian pop-culture at large—opening the floodgates to the global recognition of titles like Minari, Drive My Car, and even Netflix’s hit series Squid Game in recent years. As the Korean master himself said during his acceptance speech, “Once you overcome the one-inch-tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films.”

Alas, that remains a work in progress for the majority of Western audiences; the fact that it took nearly a century for Asian cinema to be recognized at the biggest stage is simply outrageous (I am still miffed about Wong Kar-wai not being nominated even once). But if Parasite’s triumph was undoubtedly a historical outlier, it did legitimize Bong —now with seven features, four Oscar wins and a passionate cult following overseas—as the de facto pop-cultural ambassador for Asian cinema as a whole. The fact that he’s leveraging his critical acclaim into shooting an English-language blockbuster full of Hollywood A-listers leads us to believe the movie will have more broad-based appeal than any of his Korean productions to date. But if it proves to be even half as engrossing as his 2019 genre mash-up, watching Mickey 17 will be time well spent. Again, it’s Bong, so you know he’s going to deliver the goods.

Robert Pattinson plays the title role in “Mickey 17.”

Warner Bros. Pictures

Unfortunately, we still have to wait a little more than a year until the film arrives on the big screen. In the meantime, you can watch the cryptic 30-second teaser above and check out our list of upcoming movies to get excited about in 2023. And if you haven’t caught up with the rest of Bong Joon-ho’s work, here’s a brief guide to help you navigate his brilliant catalog:

• Parasite is available to stream on Hulu.
• Memories of Murder is available to stream on Hulu.
• Mother is available to buy or rent on Amazon.
• Okja is available to stream on Netflix.
• Snowpiercer is available to stream on Showtime.
• The Host is available to stream on Kanopy.
• Barking Dogs Never Bite Is available to stream on Kanopy.