Rumor: ‘Mickey 17’ Has Supposedly Been Delayed Because Warner Didn’t Like Bong Joon-ho’s Cut

South Korean Bong Joon-ho swept the global cinema scene with his hit film Parasite, becoming the first non-English-language film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, alongside winning Best International Picture. Bong’s career has been on the rise since then, and he was hired by Warner Bros. to write and direct an adaptation of Edward Ashton’s novel Mickey7. The movie is going to be titled Mickey 17, and it was originally scheduled for a March 29, 2024 release, which was pushed back to January 28, 2025, supposedly due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike and delays in post-production, but that might not be the real reason.

The scoop we have for you is still a rumor, but it comes from our trusted industry insider Daniel Richtman (@DanielRPK), who is known for his accurate predictions and insider reveals. Daniel has recently explained that there might be a more complex reason for the film’s delay, but if it is true, we hope that it gets settled quickly.

Mickey 17 was announced back in 2022, and Bong was hired to write the script and direct the movie. Robert Pattinson signed on to play the main character Mickey Barnes and will be joined by Steven Yeun as Berto, Naomi Ackie as Nasha Adjaya, Toni Collette as Gwen Johansen, and Mark Ruffalo as Hieronymous Marshall. Holliday Grainger and Thomas Turgoose have also been cast but in unspecified roles. A short teaser trailer was released a year ago, which you can check out here:

The official synopsis of the book the movie is based on reveals the following details about the story:

Mickey7 is an expendable space traveler sent on a near-certain-death mission to colonize the ice world Niflheim. When one Mickey dies, another is cloned in his place with most of his memories intact, effectively rendering him immortal.

Now, we know that the movie has been delayed… but why? The official reasons are quite reasonable and understandable, but as we’ve said, Daniel reports that there is another reason behind it. Namely, it turns out that Warner was not really satisfied with Bong’s final cut of the movie and delayed it to prevent Bong from releasing that cut. The goal for Waner is to release a “more accessible” cut of the film in theaters, according to Daniel.

As you might assume, we don’t have any details, and we don’t even know if this is true or not, but if it is, we just hope that we will get the opportunity to see Bong’s cut of the film. We don’t know what Warner will achieve in the end and what will happen to the theatrical version, but Bong is a very specific and special filmmaker, and we hope that his own vision will be seen by the audiences, one way or another. We will update you on everything related to the movie, so be sure to keep following us!

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