Director Bong Joon-ho‘s new film, ‘Mickey 17’, which is considered one of the most anticipated films of the year, will be screened for the first time at the Berlin International Film Festival ahead of its official release, meeting filmmakers from around the world for the first time. With Bong Joon-ho’s country, Korea, having confirmed its ‘first release’, Hollywood star Robert Pattinson, who stars in ‘Mickey 17’, is also expected to visit Korea, raising audience expectations for the film to the max.

On the 11th (Korean time), the influential American entertainment media outlet Variety reported that “‘Mickey 17’ will be screened at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival, which will be held from February 13th to 23rd. ‘Mickey 17’, which will be released for the first time in domestic theaters, will be released in Korea on February 28th, and it seems that this will be the first event where the Berlin International Film Festival will meet a global audience. The official global release date is March 7th.

According to Variety, it is highly likely that this screening will be held in the form of a ‘special screening’ rather than a competitive section. It has been 11 years since ‘Snowpiercer’ that Director Bong Joon-ho‘s film has been screened at the Berlin International Film Festival, and even then, it was screened as a special screening in the non-competitive Forum section.

Actor Robert Pattinson, who plays the title role in ‘Mickey 17’, will first visit Korea on the 20th of this month before heading to Berlin. In the morning, he will meet with Korean reporters together with Director Bong Joon-ho, and in the afternoon, he will communicate directly with Korean fans through a stage greeting after a footage (highlight video) screening.

In particular, this visit to Korea is drawing attention as it is the ‘first visit to Korea’ for Robert Pattinson, who has a strong fandom in Korea with works such as ‘Twilight’. According to officials, this visit to Korea was driven by Robert Pattinson’s strong will to “really come to Korea, the home country of Director Bong, who directed the film.”

Director Bong‘s new film, ‘Mickey 17’, which is being released six years after the world-famous ‘Parasite’, is based on Edward Ashton’s novel ‘Mickey 7’, and tells the unpredictable story of Mickey, an expendable human clone (the Expendables) who is put to work on a dangerous mission, as he experiences his 17th near-death experience.

With a production cost of $150 million (KRW 220.7 billion), it is a mega-scale SF blockbuster that has garnered much anticipation with a cast of top Hollywood stars including Robert Pattinson, Mark Ruffalo, Toni Collette, Naomi Akie, and Steven Yeun.


Reporter Seungmi Lee smlee@donga.com