Bugonia (2025) is an absurdist sci-fi black comedy directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, the filmmaker behind The Favourite and Poor Things, from a screenplay by Will Tracy. A remake of Jang Joon-hwan's 2003 South Korean film Save the Green Planet!, it follows two conspiracy-obsessed young men, Teddy Gatz (Jesse Plemons) and Don (Aidan Delbis), who abduct Michelle (Emma Stone), the high-powered CEO of a pharmaceutical giant, convinced she is an alien — an "Andromedon" — planning Earth's destruction. To learn more about the film's leading lady, read our Emma Stone biography.
Bugonia premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2025. Focus Features gave it a limited US release on October 24, 2025, expanded it wide on October 31, 2025, and released it in the UK on December 11, 2025. According to reports, the film was made on an estimated $55 million budget and has earned around $43.5 million at the box office, though neither figure has been officially confirmed.
Movie Facts
Title: Bugonia (2025)
Release Date: October 24, 2025 (limited, US); October 31, 2025 (wide, US); December 11, 2025 (UK)
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Cast: Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Aidan Delbis, Stavros Halkias, Alicia Silverstone
Music: Original score by Jerskin Fendrix
Cinematography: Robbie Ryan
Runtime: 118 minutes
Rating: R — bloody violent content, language
The Story & the Bugonia Title
Teddy and Don are certain that Michelle is not human at all but an "Andromedon" — a member of an alien race they believe is engineering the end of the world. Their plan is as unhinged as it is meticulous: seize her, hold her captive, and force her to confess her cosmic plot and call off the invasion. Lanthimos plays the premise dead straight, letting the comedy curdle into menace as the balance of power between captors and captive keeps shifting.
The title reaches back to antiquity. "Bugonia" names the ancient Greek belief, recorded by Ovid and Virgil, that bees could spontaneously materialize from the carcass of a dead cow — life born from death. It is a fittingly strange banner for a film about paranoia, transformation, and rebirth.
Music & Score
The original score is composed by Jerskin Fendrix, the Oscar-winning composer of Poor Things, reuniting with Lanthimos after their celebrated collaboration. Reviewers have called the music a "haunting" and "imposing orchestral" score that tightens the film's queasy tension from the first scene to the last. Fendrix even appears on screen in a cameo as Andromedan 6.
Details of a soundtrack album beyond the score have not been officially announced, so fans should treat any circulating tracklist with caution. For more 2025 film music coverage, see our features on the Song Sung Blue (2025) movie, Wicked: For Good (2025) movie, and the Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere movie.
Watch the Official Trailer
Watch the official Bugonia trailer from Focus Features below:
Frequently Asked Questions
When was Bugonia released?
Bugonia premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2025. Focus Features released it in US theaters in a limited run on October 24, 2025, expanded wide on October 31, 2025, and released it in the UK on December 11, 2025.
Who is in the cast of Bugonia?
The film stars Emma Stone as pharmaceutical CEO Michelle, Jesse Plemons as Teddy Gatz, and Aidan Delbis as Don, with Stavros Halkias as Casey and Alicia Silverstone as Sandy in supporting roles.
What is Bugonia about?
Two conspiracy-obsessed young men kidnap a powerful CEO they believe is an alien — an "Andromedon" — plotting to destroy Earth, holding her captive to force a confession. The film is a remake of Jang Joon-hwan's 2003 South Korean film Save the Green Planet!
Who composed the music for Bugonia?
The original score was composed by Jerskin Fendrix, the Oscar-winning composer of Poor Things, who also cameos in the film as Andromedan 6.
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