A Movie We’re Rooting For: MICKEY 17

For those who love the 2019 Best Picture winner PARASITE, anticipation is high for filmmaker Bong Joon-Ho’s follow-up, MICKEY 17. You can count us among that group.

We first got a glimpse at MICKEY 17 in April at CinemaCon during the Warner Bros. presentation. At the time, we said:

“The most unexpected moment of the night was the introduction of Bong Joon-ho, who was joined on stage by Robert Pattinson and Bong’s interpreter. The Oscar-winning director gave us a first look at MICKEY 17. Set on a spacecraft, Pattinson plays an “expendable” who dies multiple times (17 to be precise) and is regenerated numerous times as part of his job. A glitch happens when a so-called duplicate “Mickey” is created, leaving the two to duke it out.

Several moments are wonderfully outlandish, including Pattenson’s voice, which seems to be a register higher than usual. The trailer makes the most of the cast, including Mark Ruffalo (in what looks like another bonkers role on the heels of POOR THINGS), Steven Yeun, Naomi Ackie, and Toni Collette. All are prominently featured.

What caught us off guard was the humor. The film looks very funny. The entire clip was set against Dean Martin’s “Ain’t That A Kick in The Head .” This one may not be for everyone, but we’ll be there opening night.”

This week, it was announced that MICKEY will be moving off its January date and will now open on April 18th. That’s the second move for a film that was originally set to open last March. Date changes used to be the kiss of death; they signaled a lack of confidence in the movie. But there are numerous examples of films being pushed in the interest of making a better film and optimizing its marketing. WORLD WAR Z and SONIC THE HEDGEHOG immediately come to mind.

As Variety reported, the move was made to secure IMAX screens on the heels of Lionsgate’s MICHAEL moving off the April 18th date. Regardless, it gives Warner Bros more time to build a campaign for a film that has surprisingly low awareness. At the moment, only 11% of people know about the film. And that’s after the release of a trailer in September. Before the trailer (grey vertical bar), MICKEY 17 was at 10%. In other words, the trailer did little to build awareness.

Interest in the film has actually declined from 34% before the trailer to 30% today. To be fair, we strongly caution against reading too much into interest numbers when few people know about the film. However, low interest does suggest a lack of a broad groundswell of support for the film.

In this light, the decision to push from January to April makes sense. At the same time, the date change is rather curious. Unlike last Christmas season when WB had the trifecta of WONKA, AQUMAN AND THE LOST KINGDOM, and THE COLOR PURPLE, the studio is largely sitting out the holidays. Its biggest December title is LORD OF THE RINGS, THE BATTLE OF ROHIRRIM, which looks like a niche play. The quiet slate should allow for more attention from the Warner Bros. marketing team. So, it seems odd that MICKEY 17 is still being pushed to April.

Also of note is the fact that the first half of the 2025 Warner Bros. slate (see below) is short on guaranteed hits. Based on the first teaser, COMPANION (1/31) looks very compelling, not unlike the auteur-driven nouveau horror currently being shepherded by Neon and A24. But awareness sits at 6%. A MINECRAFT MOVIE (4/4) has had decent tracking numbers despite the campaign getting off to a rocky start. And the Barry Levinson/Robert DeNiro film ALTO KNIGHTS (3/21) looks unlikely to attract an audience under 50. That means there are few big Warner Bros. titles for a MICKEY 17 trailer to play in front of. That puts more pressure on other marketing outlets, which, as of now, haven’t lifted the numbers.

The wildcard in all of this is SINNERS, which reunites Ryan Coogler with Michael B. Jordan and opens March 7th. At 17% awareness, tracking for SINNERS has also been unexceptional, though we expect the numbers to be where the studio wants them by release. If that film takes off, it could be a terrific catalyst for MICKEY 17.

MICKEY 17 sits high on our list of most anticipated 2025 films. We have complete confidence that the studio will give the film plenty of love and support. Our hope is that the film finds a wide audience. It’s just that the campaign so far has had limited success in building awareness and interest.