Development on the film began as early as 2020, with Jang attached to direct and Will Tracy adapting the screenplay. Ari Aster came on board as producer soon after. Jang later stepped down as director, citing health concerns, but remained attached as an executive producer. By February 2024, Lanthimos was hired to direct in Jang's place, while Stone joined the project both as an actress and producer. Plemons joined the cast that May, and it was soon acquired by Focus Features for distribution at the Cannes Film Festival. Principal photography began in July in High Wycombe, England, and Atlanta, Georgia, and during which time, the rest of the cast was announced. Additional filming took place in May 2025 in Milos, Greece. With an estimated budget of $45–$55 million, Bugonia is Lanthimos' most expensive film.[4][12]
Bugonia had its world premiere in the main competition of the 82nd Venice International Film Festival on August 28, 2025, and was theatrically released in the United States by Focus Features on October 24. It received generally positive reviews, with critics praising the performances of Plemons and Stone.
Plot
Michelle Fuller, the CEO of the pharmaceutical megacorporation Auxolith, is abducted by conspiracy theorist Teddy Gatz and his autistic cousin Don. Teddy believes Michelle is a member of a malignant alien species known as the "Andromedans" who are killing Earth's honeybees, destroying communities, and forcing humans into numb subservience.
Teddy and Don imprison Michelle in their basement, shave her head, and cover her body in antihistamine cream to prevent her from sending out a distress signal to other Andromedans. Teddy explains that she has four days to negotiate a meeting with the Andromedan emperor before an upcoming lunar eclipse, which will allow the Andromedan mothership to enter Earth's atmosphere undetected.
Flashbacks reveal that Teddy's mother, Sandy, participated in a clinical trial for an Auxolith drug that rendered her comatose. While torturing Michelle via electroshock, Teddy comes to the conclusion that her high pain tolerance is evidence she is actually a high-ranking member of the Andromedan royal family, and invites her upstairs for dinner. The tense meal culminates in a physical fight interrupted by the appearance of Casey, the local police sheriff and Teddy's childhood babysitter, who is searching for Michelle. Don takes Michelle back to the basement at gunpoint while Teddy distracts Casey by showing him his apiary in the backyard.
Michelle offers to help Don if he reports Teddy to the police. Don replies that he only wants to go to outer space with Michelle, and after she promises to take him, he shoots himself in the head. Casey responds to the gunshot, but Teddy bludgeons him to death with a shovel and returns to the basement. Michelle convinces a frantic Teddy that a bottle of antifreeze in her car is secretly an Andromedan antidote that will cure his mother. After striking and dislocating Michelle’s kneecap, Teddy rushes to the hospital and injects the antifreeze into Sandy's IV bag, killing her. Meanwhile, Michelle unchains herself and discovers Teddy previously abducted and killed several other people he suspected of being Andromedans.
Angered by Michelle's deception, Teddy returns to the house and confronts her. Michelle cows him into tears by recounting an alternative version of his alien conspiracy: out of guilt over accidentally causing the mass extinction of the dinosaurs, the Andromedans created humanity and have spent thousands of years benevolently trying to guide humans away from their innately flawed, violent natures. She claims that her mothership has the information needed to save humanity, and agrees to arrange the meeting between Teddy and the Andromedans at Auxolith headquarters.
They arrive at the office, where Teddy reveals himself to be wearing a suicide vest. Michelle instructs Teddy to enter her closet, which she claims is the location of the teleporter to her ship. As Teddy enters the teleporter, the suicide vest detonates, killing Teddy and knocking Michelle unconscious. She awakens in an ambulance, but jumps out and returns to her office, where she enters the closet and teleports to the Andromedan mothership.
Michelle, now revealed as the genuine Andromedan empress, consults with her fellow Andromedans and concludes that the human experiment has failed. She pops a clear, bubble-like dome over a model of a flat Earth, instantly killing all humans on the planet, regardless of circumstance or influence. Michelle gazes out at Earth, now devoid of human life, as bees slowly return to Teddy's apiary.
Cast
Emma Stone as Michelle Fuller, the CEO of a major pharmaceutical company who is thought to be an alien. Michelle serves as the film's analogue to the character of Kang Man-shik, who in the original film is a man.[13] The choice to swap the gender of the character was made by Aster, Tracy, and Jang prior to Lanthimos's involvement with the film,[14] and, according to Jang, was one of the last creative decisions he was involved in prior to stepping down as director.[15] Stone shaved her head for this role.[16]
Jesse Plemons as Teddy Gatz, a conspiracy theory–obsessed beekeeper. Teddy serves the same narrative role as the character of Lee Byeong-gu in the original film.[17]
Aidan Delbis as Don, Teddy's autistic cousin. The gender is also changed here: in the Korean film, the kidnapper was assisted by an awkward, but fiery girl, who was passionately in love with him.[18][19]
Development of an English-language remake of the South Korean film Save the Green Planet! by Jang Joon-hwan began in 2020 with Will Tracy adapting the screenplay, and Jang attached to direct the remake.[20]Ari Aster was signed on to produce and was instrumental in the hiring of Tracy and the decision to gender-swap the central character from a man to a woman.[14] Tracy stated that he only viewed Save the Green Planet! once before beginning work on the screenplay for Bugonia, and did not attempt to faithfully reproduce the original film's story in his script as he preferred for the two films to stand alone from one another.[21]
Jang would later step down as director, citing health problems as the reason for doing so; however, he remained attached to the project as an executive producer.[15] In February 2024, it was revealed that Yorgos Lanthimos would be directing the remake, with Element Pictures joining the production team.[22] Jang stated that he was pleased by Lanthimos's hiring and called him a "very fitting" choice as the film's director.[15]Emma Stone was also in talks to star in the film, making it her fourth collaboration with Lanthimos.[23]Jesse Plemons officially joined the cast by the time it was retitled Bugonia and taken to the Cannes Film Market in May.[2][24] In October, Alicia Silverstone joined the cast.[25] In May 2025, it was revealed that Aidan Delbis and Stavros Halkias were cast as well.[1]
Filming
Principal photography began on July 1, 2024 in Oxshott and High Wycombe, England.[26] Filming also took place in Atlanta, Georgia, where it wrapped there in October.[27] For the fictional Auxolith headquarters, the Botanica Ditton Park, a co-working space in Ditton Park, was used as the filming location.[28] Lanthimos wanted the ending of Bugonia to be filmed in the Acropolis of Athens, but the Central Archaeological Council of Greece rejected his request. The Sarakiniko Beach in the Greek island of Milos was chosen as the alternative location, with filming taking place in May 2025.[29] The film was budgeted at $45 million, however, a Deadline Hollywood report indicated that the film cost $55 million itself, making it Lanthimos' most expensive film, surpassing Poor Things.[4]
Irish cinematographer Robbie Ryan shot the project on 8-perf 35 mm film with VistaVision cameras, marking his fourth collaboration with Lanthimos.[30][31] With approximately 95% of the film shot in VistaVision by Ryan's estimate, it has used the format more than any film since One-Eyed Jacks (1961).[32]
Jerskin Fendrix composed and conducted the film's score, performed by the London Contemporary Orchestra. This marks his third collaboration with Lanthimos after Poor Things and Kinds of Kindness (2024).[33] According to sound designer Johnnie Burn, Fendrix was asked by Lanthimos to write the score based on three key words: bees, basement, and spaceship. He did not provide him with the script or any other footage until after hearing the score.[34][35]
Marketing
First footage from the film was screened at the Universal Pictures/Focus Features panel in CinemaCon on April 2, 2025, with the absence of Lanthimos and Stone.[36] The teaser trailer was released online on June 26, featuring Green Day's song "Basket Case."[37] A day prior to its Venice debut on August 27, 2025, the first poster was released, with a first official trailer, featuring a remix of Chappell Roan's song "Good Luck, Babe!" and revealing Stone's bald look for the film, releasing the next day.[38][39]
A week before its limited release in the United States, an in-universe website titled "Human Resistance HQ" was released, featuring a poorly made website including a deep-dive into Stone's character Michelle Fuller, a collection of articles and files connected to the film's plot, and linked a LinkedIn page of the fictional in-universe company Auxolith. Additionally, two billboards, respectively in Los Angeles and New York City, were released, advertising Auxolith, before each being vandalized with "ANDROMEDAN FILTH" and "JOIN THE HUMAN RESISTANCE."[40]
On October 20, four days before the film's limited release in the United States, an advanced free screening at the Culver Theater in Los Angeles was given to bald audiences, with a barber present to shave people's heads to enter the screening.[41]
Release
Bugonia premiered at the Venice International Film Festival on August 28, 2025.[42][43]Focus Features acquired the film's worldwide rights outside South Korea, which CJ ENM Films & Television retained, to the project at the Marché du Film in May 2024, with its parent Universal Pictures handling international distribution on its behalf.[2] The film had a limited release in the United States on October 24, 2025, before having a wide release on October 31, 2025.[1] It was previously scheduled to be released on November 7, 2025.[44] It was released in Ireland by Universal Pictures on October 31, 2025,[45] and was released in South Korea by CJ ENM on November 5, 2025.[46] In addition to digital screenings, it was shown in 35 mm in select theaters.[47]
Home media
The film was released on VOD on November 25, 2025, and will be released on DVD, Blu-ray and Ultra HD Blu-Ray on December 23, 2025.[48]
Reception
Box office
As of November25,2025[update], Bugonia has grossed $17 million in the United States and Canada, and $16 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $33 million.[5][6]
In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside Regretting You and Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc, and was projected to gross around $3–4million in its opening weekend. It made $1.8 million on its first day of wide release at the box office and went on to debut to $4.8 million in its opening weekend.[49]
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 87% of 282 critics' reviews are positive.The website's consensus reads: "Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons are at the top of their game in Bugonia, a bonkers entertainment that applies director Yorgos Lanthimos' whip-smart method to modern society's madness."[50]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 72 out of 100, based on 61 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[51] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[52]
David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter wrote: "Stone and Plemons are both in top form, clearly vibing with the director's idiosyncratic sensibility and upping each other's game". He also praised "the sheer richness, the stinging clarity and the eye-searing colors" of Robbie Ryan's "spectacular" VistaVision cinematography, while admitting that the film is "by no means Lanthimos' best work".[9]Owen Gleiberman of Variety called the film a "heady and gripping experience", describing the script as an "ingeniously witty and incisive exposé of the dueling mindsets it's about". He praised Stone, writing "as an actor, [she] has often led with her empathy, and it's that very quality that renders her cutthroat performance in [this film] so ironically exquisite", while naming Plemons the film's "most extraordinary performance".[53] Alissa Wilkinson of The New York Times also praised Stone's and Plemons' performances. She stated that Bugonia feels like a "demented riff on Spielberg", adding that "this is not really Lanthimos's weirdest film, and it's not his funniest or his most fun either. It's mostly kind of sad".[10]
Slate'sDana Stevens, in a less positive review, wrote that "the disdain Lanthimos is expressing here is more for humanity itself than for any one subset of it; he's less a misogynist than a misanthropist", describing Bugonia as "unremittingly grim" and "as nauseatingly gory as it is thuddingly obvious".[11] Donald Clarke of The Irish Times found the film "mid-ranking" in Lanthimos' filmography; he praised the three central performances and Ryan's "fabulous" and "inventive" cinematography, but felt that "there is not much substance at the centre" of the film, describing its ecological themes as "stated without being much expanded or explored".[54]
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