Bong Joon Ho's 'Mickey 17' to premiere at Berlin Film Festival

Berlin: Filmmaker Bong Joon Ho's much awaited Mickey 17, his first project since Oscar-winning Parasite, will have its international premiere at the 2025 Berlin Film Festival.

According to entertainment news outlet Variety, Mickey 17 may have its South Korean premiere ahead of Berlin, as it debuts in Bong Joon Ho’s home country on February 28, a week before its global release.

The Robert Pattinson-led movie, made on a budget of $118 million, will be released by Hollywood studio Warner Bros in the US on March 7.

Mickey 17 will be Bong Joon Ho's first feature film post 2019's Parasite, which became the first non-English film to win the best picture Oscar. It also took home trophies for original screenplay, director and international feature.

The film is based on author Edward Ashton’s novel of the same title and features an ensemble cast that also includes Steven Yeun, Naomi Ackie, Toni Collette and Mark Ruffalo.

Ashton’s novel, which was published earlier this year, centres on Mickey7, a man on an expedition to colonise the ice world Niflheim.

This expendable employee takes jobs too risky for anyone else, and when he dies, he regenerates as a clone with most of his memories intact. When Mickey7 is presumed dead, he returns to the mission’s base only to see that a new clone, Mickey8, has taken his place, the official logline read.

In addition to writing and directing, Bong is also producing the upcoming film through his banner Offscreen.

Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner of Plan B Entertainment and Dooho Choi of Kate Street Pictures are the other producers.

Bong Joon Ho, one of the most famous contemporary South Korean filmmakers, is known for directing globally acclaimed films such as Memories of Murder, The Host, Snowpiercer and Okja.

The complete Berlinale lineup will be revealed on January 21, with the festival taking place from February 13 to 23.