2025 has been a difficult year for big-budget releases so far, and Robert Pattinson’s Mickey 17 has done little to shift the box office woes of this year. Being the first major entry in WB’s autuer-driven 2025, Bong Joon-ho’s sci-fi thriller had a lot of pressure riding into it. Unfortunately, the Oscar winner’s first release after Parasite commenced on a slow theatrical note.
If it seemed things couldn’t get any worse, the suits at WB are certainly not making it easy for the film, as the Pattinson-led film is reportedly heading for digital within its first month.
Robert Pattinson’s Mickey 17 is reportedly heading to digital at an alarming rate
In recent years, the theatrical window for movies has been gradually shrinking in favor of streaming releases, and the ramifications of this growing trend are hard to overlook. Per When to Stream, WB, which has been at the center of it all over the past few years, is reportedly intending to cut the Robert Pattinson-led Mickey 17‘s theatrical run with a 25 March digital release.
Although the projection for Mickey 17‘s box-office run is not looking good, especially after its underwhelming first week, cutting its theatrical window would certainly not do it any favors moving forward.
Well that was the flop of all flops.
— Danger Ran (@shrunkenpants) March 15, 2025
People scream about less sequels and remakes and more fresh films only to not show to the theater to watch it.
— I have so many questions? (@english_shamar) March 15, 2025
The turnover rate on these movies from theaters to streaming is getting absolutely ridiculous. They’re not even giving them a chance like talking. Sometimes it might take a little bit for word of mouth to pick up and your movie to start gaining traction.
That’s how Avatar ended…
— Southern Fried StoNerD (@southernstonerd) March 15, 2025
And this is why no one bothers to go to movie theatres anymore. They know that they’ll be able to watch it at home for free in less than 3 weeks
— BAMTube (@OfficialBAMTube) March 15, 2025
With studios these days refusing to let films marinate at theatres, they should take a page out of Cameron’s book and give movies some time to breathe at the box office instead of resorting to digital at the first sign of trouble.
Bong Joon-ho doesn’t account for risk during Mickey 17‘s creation
Given Mickey 17‘s experimental nature and the $118M budget, it was always going to be a hard film to sell. As for its director, when it comes to penning and directing a story that he finds fascinating, Bong Joon-ho doesn’t bother to account for the potential risk involved, and similar was the case for Mickey 17. He added (via LA Times):
I feel bad for the producers and the marketing team for saying this—I know they have a very hard job. But once I find a particular story or character or situation fascinating, I just go ahead and I create a movie based on it. I really don’t think about the risks. Maybe I can’t.
Even though the film was always going to have a hard time recovering its money, which is now on the verge of losing millions, cutting off its leg at the box-office this early isn’t going to be the brightest move on WB’s part, if true.
Mickey 17 is currently running in theatres.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
