“Bugonia,” the newest film from acclaimed director Yorgos Lanthimos starring Emma Stone, is hitting theaters earlier than anticipated. Focus Features has announced the movie will open in select theaters on October 24, with a wider release on October 31, moving ahead from its initial November 7 debut date.
Adapted from the South Korean sci-fi comedy “Save the Green Planet,” “Bugonia” centers on two conspiracy theorists who kidnap a powerful corporate executive, convinced she is an alien with a sinister plan to annihilate Earth. Alongside Stone, the film stars Jesse Plemons—reuniting the trio after “Kinds of Kindness”—with Aidan Delbis, Stavros Halkias, and Alicia Silverstone also featured in the ensemble.
Lanthimos directs from a screenplay by Will Tracy, known for “The Menu” and “Succession.” Stone and Lanthimos produce through their respective companies, Fruit Tree and Pith, alongside Element Pictures’ Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe, Square Peg’s Ari Aster and Lars Knusden, and CJ ENM’s Miky Lee and Jerry Kyoungboum Ko.
“Bugonia” marks Lanthimos’s first release with Focus Features, which secured the project after a competitive bidding process. His previous collaborations, including “The Favourite,” “Poor Things,” and “Kinds of Kindness,” were distributed by Searchlight, with A24 handling earlier projects such as “The Lobster” and “The Killing of a Sacred Deer.”
Other notable upcoming releases from Focus Features include Chloé Zhao’s “Hamnet,” Wes Anderson’s “The Phoenician Scheme,” the musical drama “Song Sung Blue” starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson, Ronan Day-Lewis’s directorial debut “Anemone” featuring Daniel Day-Lewis, and Ethan Coen’s “Honey Don’t!” starring Margaret Qualley, Aubrey Plaza, and Chris Evans.