A Big Bold Beautiful Journey

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A Big Bold Beautiful Journey
A Big Bold Beautiful Journey poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Kogonada
Written bySeth Reiss
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyBenjamin Loeb
Edited by
  • Susan E. Kim
  • Jonathan Alberts
Music by Joe Hisaishi
Production
companies
Distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing
Release dates
  • September 17, 2025 (2025-09-17)(Phillipines)
  • September 19, 2025 (2025-09-19)(United States)
Running time
109 minutes [1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$45 million [2]
Box office$8.05 million [3]

A Big Bold Beautiful Journey is a 2025 American romantic fantasy film directed by Kogonada and written by Seth Reiss. The film stars Margot Robbie, Colin Farrell, Kevin Kline, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

Contents

A Big Bold Beautiful Journey was first released in the Philippines on September 17, 2025, and was released in the United States by Sony Pictures Releasing on September 19, 2025. The film received mixed reviews from critics.

Premise

The story is about a pair of strangers and the unimaginable journey that ties them together. David (Colin Farrell) and Sarah (Margot Robbie) find themselves on a funny, fantastical adventure where they get to re-live important moments from the past and possibly alter their future.

Cast

Production

In December 2020, A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, written by Seth Reiss, was featured on the annual Black List. [5] In February 2024, it was announced that Kogonada would direct the film with Reiss producing. Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell were in conversation to star. [6] Later that month, Deadline reported that Sony Pictures had tied up at European Film Market a deal in the $50M range for the movie, described as "one of the market's hottest scripts". [7] In April 2024, Lily Rabe, Jodie Turner-Smith, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and newcomer Lucy Thomas joined the cast. [8]

Filming began in April 2024 in California. [9] [10] In May, Billy Magnussen, Sarah Gadon, Hamish Linklater, Brandon Perea, Yuvi Hecht, Calahan Skogman, Chloe East, Jacqueline Novak and Jennifer Grant rounded out the cast. [11] [12] [13]

Kogonada has called Howl's Moving Castle and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind as influences on the film. [14]

Music

The film's score was composed by Joe Hisaishi, his first Western film soundtrack. [14] [15] The soundtrack also features four songs by Laufey, "The Risk", "Winter Wonderland", "But Beautiful" and "Let's Dream In The Moonlight – Take 1", and a Mitski cover of Pete Townshend's "Let My Love Open the Door". [16]

Release

A Big Bold Beautiful Journey was first released in the Philippines on September 17, 2025, and in Albania on September 18, 2025. [17] In the United States, the movie was released on September 19, 2025, [18] after being previously scheduled for release on May 9, 2025. [19]

Reception

Box office

As of September 22,2025, A Big Bold Beautiful Journey has grossed $4 million in the United States and Canada, [20] and $5 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $8 million. [3]

In the United States and Canada, A Big Bold Beautiful Journey was released alongside Him , and was projected to gross $8–10 million from 3,300 theaters in its opening weekend. [21] The film made $1.4 million on its first day, and went on to debut to just $3.5 million, finishing in sixth place. [20] [22]

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 36% of 148 critics' reviews are positive.The website's consensus reads: "Too solemn to have much fun with its high concept while also too saccharine for its wistful themes to resonate, this well-meaning odyssey never quite lives up to its title." [23] Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 42 out of 100, based on 42 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. [24] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B-" on an A+ to F scale, while those surveyed by PostTrak gave it 2.5 out of five stars, with 44% saying they would definitely recommend the film. [22]

The film contains Burger King product placement, [25] [26] [27] that was characterized by critics as "cringe-in-your-seat", "rather disappointing", and "so blatant even the lead actors look like they're reconsidering their career choices". [28] [29] [30]

References

  1. "A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (15)". BBFC . September 2, 2025. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
  2. Rubin, Rebecca (September 17, 2025). "Box Office: 'Him' Targets $15 Million Debut, Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell's 'A Big Bold Beautiful Journey' Aims for $10 Million". Variety . Retrieved September 17, 2025.
  3. 1 2 "A Big Bold Beautiful Journey – Financial Information". The Numbers. Retrieved September 23, 2025.
  4. "A Big Bold Beautiful Journey's all-star cast: Margot Robbie, Colin Farrell and more". Spoiler US. May 4, 2024. Archived from the original on April 14, 2025. Retrieved November 25, 2024.
  5. Lindahl, Chris (December 14, 2020). "The 2020 Black List Presents the Year's Best Unproduced Scripts". IndieWire . Archived from the original on December 16, 2020. Retrieved February 27, 2021.
  6. Kroll, Justin (February 7, 2024). "Margot Robbie And Colin Farrell To Star In 'A Big Bold Beautiful Journey' For Imperative Entertainment And 'After Yang' Director Kogonada". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on February 7, 2024. Retrieved February 7, 2024.
  7. Wiseman, Andreas (February 17, 2024). "Margot Robbie & Colin Farrell's Next Movie 'A Big Bold Beautiful Journey' Sells Worldwide To Sony In First Major EFM Deal: Berlin Market Has Liftoff!". Deadline Hollywood . Archived from the original on February 18, 2024. Retrieved February 18, 2024.
  8. Kroll, Justin (April 17, 2024). "Lily Rabe, Jodie Turner-Smith And Phoebe Waller-Bridge Join Margot Robbie And Colin Farrell In Sony And Imperative's 'A Big Bold Beautiful Journey'".
  9. Kroll, Justin (April 9, 2024). "Colin Farrell To Star In Edward Berger's 'The Ballad Of A Small Player' For Netflix". Archived from the original on April 22, 2024. Retrieved April 9, 2024.
  10. Stephan, Katcy (February 7, 2024). "Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell Set to Star in 'A Big Bold Beautiful Journey' From Director Kogonada". Variety. Retrieved February 8, 2024.
  11. Kroll, Justin (May 3, 2024). "Billy Magnussen, Sarah Gadon And Hamish Linklater Among Those Rounding Out Cast Of Imperative And Sony's 'A Big Bold Beautiful Journey'". Deadline Hollywood . Archived from the original on May 3, 2024. Retrieved May 3, 2024.
  12. "Instagram". www.instagram.com.
  13. Grobar, Matt (May 9, 2024). "Chloe East, Jacqueline Novak & Jennifer Grant Join Sony's 'A Big Bold Beautiful Journey'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 9, 2024.
  14. 1 2 Bui, Hoai-Tran (September 18, 2025). "How Hayao Miyazaki Inspired The Most Surreal Time-Travel Movie Of The Year". Inverse. Retrieved September 24, 2025.
  15. Jones, Eileen (September 23, 2025). "A Big Bold Beautiful Journey Bombs Out". Jacobin. Retrieved September 24, 2025.
  16. Starkey, Adam (September 20, 2025). "Every song on 'A Big Bold Beautiful Journey' soundtrack". NME. Retrieved September 24, 2025.
  17. Metushi, Sindi (September 19, 2025). ""A Big Bold Beautiful Journey" 18 shtator premierë në të gjitha kinematë Cineplexx". Time Out Tirana (in Albanian). Retrieved March 10, 2025.
  18. D'Alessandro, Anthony (March 10, 2025). "Margot Robbie & Colin Farrell Romance Drama 'A Big Bold Beautiful Journey' Travels To Fall". Deadline Hollywood . Archived from the original on March 10, 2025. Retrieved March 10, 2025.
  19. D'Alessandro, Anthony (August 15, 2024). "Sony Taking 'A Big Bold Beautiful Journey' With Margot Robbie Over Mother's Day Weekend 2025". Deadline Hollywood . Archived from the original on November 13, 2024. Retrieved August 15, 2024.
  20. 1 2 Aaron Couch (September 21, 2025). "Box Office: 'Demon Slayer' Tops 'Him' for No. 1, Passes $550M Globally". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 19, 2025.
  21. Rubin, Rebecca (September 17, 2025). "Box Office: 'Him' Targets $15 Million Debut, Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell's 'A Big Bold Beautiful Journey' Aims for $10 Million". Variety . Retrieved September 16, 2025.
  22. 1 2 "Demon Slayer' Tackles 'Him' For No. 1 With $17M+, 'Big Bold Beautiful Journey' Bombs With $3M+ – Sunday AM Box Office". Deadline Hollywood . September 21, 2025. Retrieved September 21, 2025.
  23. "A Big Bold Beautiful Journey". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango Media . Retrieved September 23, 2025.
  24. "A Big Bold Beautiful Journey". Metacritic . Fandom, Inc. Retrieved September 23, 2025.
  25. ""A Big Bold Beautiful Journey" movie review". Cleveland.com . September 18, 2025. Retrieved September 19, 2025.
  26. Noble-Davies, Cain (September 18, 2025). "A Big Bold Beautiful Journey". FilmInk . Retrieved September 19, 2025.
  27. Eggert, Brian (September 17, 2025). "A Big Bold Beautiful Journey | Movie Review". Deep Focus Review. Retrieved September 19, 2025.
  28. Lattanzio, Ryan (September 16, 2025). "'A Big Bold Beautiful Journey' Review: Kogonada's Big, Bold Misfire". IndieWire . Retrieved September 19, 2025.
  29. Gaughan, Liam (September 17, 2025). "A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (2025) Movie Review: Kogonada's Beautiful Visuals Can't Save This Misguided Charlie Kaufman Pastiche". High On Films. Retrieved September 19, 2025.
  30. Howell, Peter (September 18, 2025). "Review: 'A Big Bold Beautiful Journey'; is a big blah dud". Toronto Star . Retrieved September 19, 2025.