Bong Joon Ho’s long-awaited animated film ally The Oscar-winning director’s producers announced Tuesday on the first day of the Cannes Film Festival the lineup of the voice cast, with Bradley Cooper, Ayo Edebiri, Dave Bautista, Finn Wolfhard, Rachel House and Werner Herzog joining the project. Newcomer Alex Jayne Go led the casting announcement, suggesting she could voice the lead role.
The reveal comes alongside final word that Neon has signed on to release the film theatrically in North America in 2027 – marking the indie label’s reunion with Bong following its 2019 release. parasiteWhich is famous for being the first non-English language film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.
ally is Bong’s first foray into 3D animated filmmaking, a passion project he’s been developing since 2019. Set deep in the depths of the South Pacific, the family adventure follows a curious little squid – supposedly voiced by Go – as she journeys from the ocean’s uncharted depths to its surface after a mysterious plane goes down in her homeland.
There is no information yet on the characters played by the various familiar Hollywood names revealed in the casting process. For Cooper, a 12-time Oscar nominee, the project marks a return to animated voice work after his performance as Rocket Raccoon in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy privilege. Bear Breakthrough Edebiri will premiere Arie and Chuko Esiri’s drama Clarissa – another neon title – in the Directors’ Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival this week. Batista (Sand dunes), house (Moana) and Wolfhard (Strange things) brought more familiarity with the franchise to the cast. The involvement of Herzog’s heavily accented Bavarian baritone will likely please international film buffs.
Outside North America, Pathé will distribute ally in France, Benelux, Switzerland and West Africa, while CJ ENM and Penture Invest will deal with South Korea, Vietnam, Turkey and Indonesia. Pathé is also overseeing international sales at Cannes this week (excluding Japan and China, which CJ and Penture manage directly).
3D animation is in progress ally Handled by VFX studio DNEG (beginning, Sand dunes), with a creative team from 12 countries that includes animation supervisor Jae Hyung Kim (toy story 4, Inside out), a partner Franchise veteran David Liebman serves as supervising producer and Klaus Production designer Marcin Jakubowski. Bong co-wrote the script with Jason Yu, the South Korean director behind the 2023 horror film He sleeps. ally It is produced by Bong’s frequent collaborator Seo Woo-sik, who also produced the mom (2009) and Okja (2017).
Korean industry gossip has suggested allyThe film’s budget could reach $60 million, making it the most expensive feature ever produced in the country. The film aims to be completed in the first half of 2027 before being released in global theaters later that year.
