Focus Features released the full trailer for Yorgos Lanthimos’ Bugonia as the film premieres in competition at the Venice Film Festival today, reuniting the director with Emma Stone for a sci-fi black comedy about conspiracy and power. The studio set a platform rollout for the United States, opening October 24 before expanding nationwide on October 31, with a weeklong large-format engagement planned in New York and Los Angeles.
The trailer frames Stone as a pharmaceutical CEO abducted by two young men who are convinced she is an alien bent on Earth’s destruction; Jesse Plemons leads the kidnappers, with Aidan Delbis as his partner. Alicia Silverstone also appears. Focus lists Will Tracy as screenwriter and confirms the movie was shot in VistaVision, signaling a theatrical-first strategy.
At a Venice press conference, Lanthimos said the movie’s heightened premise isn’t meant as dystopia so much as a mirror of the present, citing anxieties around technology, war, and climate. Stone, asked about the film’s extraterrestrial overtones, joked that it’s “pretty narcissistic” to think humans are alone and added, “I believe in aliens,” a line that drew headlines from the Lido.
Bugonia adapts Jang Joon-hwan’s 2003 Korean cult film Save the Green Planet! and marks the fourth feature pairing for Lanthimos and Stone following The Favourite, Poor Things, and Kinds of Kindness. The Venice program lists two screenings today, with a morning industry showing and an evening public premiere, positioning the title for immediate festival-driven awareness ahead of the late-October release.
In the new footage, Stone’s character undergoes a drastic transformation; the role involved shaving her head on camera during production, a choice she has discussed while promoting the film. Focus and partners are amplifying the campaign with poster drops and a trailer push across official channels.
