‘Mickey 17,’ Bong Joon-Ho’s Already Delayed Follow-Up To ‘Parasite,’ Finally Has A New Release Date, And It’s A Ways Off

Parasite came out a long time ago. How long ago? When it won Best Picture (and a slew of other Oscars), the pandemic had yet to fully kick in. It’s not that director Bong Joon-ho hasn’t been busy. In another timeline his follow-up, the sci-fi Mickey 17, would be set to arrive in late March, a month-and-change as of this writing. Last month Warner Bros. Discovery mysteriously yanked it from the schedule entirely. That prompted fear; was David Zaslav ready to do to Director Bong what he did to the makers of Batgirl and Coyote vs. Acme. Well, now you can chill, for now.

Per The Hollywood Reporter, Mickey 17 is back on the release calendar, though everyone will have to wait: It won’t hit theaters until January 31, 2025, or about 10 months from when it was originally supposed to arrive.

For his chaser to Parasite, Bong chose to adapt Edward Ashton’s 2022 novel Mickey 7. Why the addition of 10 more to the title? We’ll have to wait and find out. Not much is known about how Bong adapted the source, but Variety says star Robert Pattinson plays an “expendable,” or a “disposable employee on a human expedition sent to colonize an ice planet,” who “refuses to let his replacement clone take his place.” If it’s anything like Bong’s other films, it will be brainy and fun in equal measure.

So for now, at least, Bong and Pattinson heads can breathe a sigh of relief, as it appears WBD won’t Zaslav their film out of existence to save a couple bucks. Then again, a lot can change in 11 months.

(Via THR)