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Movie Name: Bugonia
Directed by: Yorgos Lanthimos
Starring: Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Aidan Delbis, Stavros Halkias, Alicia Silverstone
Genre: Crime, Comedy, Sci-Fi
Running Time: 118 Minutes
Release Date: October 31, 2025
Rating:
Languages: English
Production House: Element Pictures, Square Peg, CJ ENM, Pith, Fruit Tree Enterprises
Budget: $- million
Two conspiracy-obsessed young men kidnap the high-powered CEO of a major company, convinced that she is an alien intent on destroying planet Earth.
Bugonia: Movie Overview
Bugonia is a 2025 absurdist black comedy film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. It is an English-language remake of the 2003 South Korean film Save the Green Planet! by Jang Joon-hwan. A co-production of Ireland, South Korea, and the United States, the film stars Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Aidan Delbis, Stavros Halkias, and Alicia Silverstone. It follows two young men who kidnap a powerful CEO, suspecting that she is secretly an alien who wants to destroy Earth.
Development on the film began as early as 2020, with Jang attached to direct and Tracy adapting the screenplay. Ari Aster came on board as producer soon after, and by February 2024, Lanthimos was hired to direct, replacing Jang, 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 during which time, the rest of the cast was announced. Additional filming took place in May 2025 in Milos, Greece.
Bugonia had its world premiere in the main competition of the 82nd Venice International Film Festival on August 28, 2025, and is scheduled to be theatrically released in the United States by Focus Features on October 24, 2025.
“Βουγονία / Bugonia” is a Greek word, spelled “bougonia”, which refers to an ancient Mediterranean ritual or belief that bees spontaneously generate from the carcasses of dead animals, particularly oxen.
Bugonia premiered at the Venice International Film Festival on August 28, 2025.
Movie Trailer:
#OfficialTrailer2
Movie Review:
Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons dazzle in this absurdly entertaining thriller
Story:
A remake of the Korean cult classic Save the Green Planet! by Jang Joon-hwan, Bugonia follows Teddy (Jesse Plemons), who kidnaps high-flying pharma CEO Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone), accusing her of being an alien sent to annihilate humankind.
Review:
The term Bugonia refers to an ancient myth that describes “the spontaneous generation of bees from the carcass of a dead ox.” As strange as that sounds, the plot of this film is equally bizarre — and fascinating.
The story opens with Teddy explaining bee behaviour to his neurodivergent cousin Don (Aidan Delbis), whom he has completely indoctrinated. Together, they carry out one of the most audacious kidnappings imaginable, abducting Michelle Fuller, the ruthless CEO of Auxolith, a pharmaceutical giant developing radical and controversial drugs. Teddy is convinced Michelle is part of an alien species, the “Andromedans,” infiltrating Earth. He believes that during an upcoming lunar eclipse, her mothership will return — and that he’ll finally get an audience with its royal emperor. Driven by this delusion, Teddy subjects Michelle to psychological and physical torment, all while trying to justify his actions to Don.
Dark comedies this twisted depend heavily on stellar performances, and Bugonia delivers. While Will Tracy’s screenplay takes its time to build momentum, Yorgos Lanthimos extracts masterful performances from his leads. Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons are in peak form — she as the cold, commanding CEO who refuses to break, and he as the obsessive, unhinged idealist teetering between brilliance and madness. Their dynamic is electric, and they elevate even the most absurd moments into gripping, psychologically charged exchanges. Aidan Delbis adds emotional texture as the impressionable Don, grounding the chaos with quiet vulnerability.
Despite the strong performances, Bugonia occasionally falters under its own eccentricity. Some of Michelle’s captivity scenes drag, and the slow-burn pacing at times dulls the tension. The final act, though bizarrely poetic, doesn’t quite match the intensity of the buildup. A deeper dive into the characters’ backstories could have given the narrative more emotional weight.
Still, Lanthimos’s direction — amplified by Robbie Ryan’s stark, restrained cinematography and Jerskin Fendrix’s haunting score — creates an unsettling, theatrical world that’s both absurd and hypnotic.
In the end, Bugonia is less about aliens and more about us — a biting satire of corporate greed, blind faith, and the self-destructive absurdity of modern humanity. It’s weird, wild, and not meant to be fully understood — but it’s definitely hard to look away from.
