Netflix has finally unveiled a first look at its major, star-studded movie set for 2025, helmed by some of Hollywood’s biggest directors and thought to have cost a massive $320,000,000 (£241 million).
Starring Millie Bobby Brown, Chris Pratt, Oscar-winner Ke Huy Quan and Stanley Tucci – alongside the likes of Anthony Mackie, Woody Harrelson, Brian Cox, Colman Domingo and Giancarlo Esposito – The Electric State has confirmed its release for next year.
The streaming blockbuster is coming to us courtesy of Marvel alumni Joe and Anthony Russo, who directed two Avengers films among others, and is an adaptation of Simon Stålenhag’s 2018 graphic novel of the same name.
Only scant details were known of the film and its take on the original material before, but now Netflix has blessed fans with a slew of images and an official synopsis for The Electric State, which is described as ‘Stranger Things meets On the Road’ on the publisher’s website.
It’s been years in the making too, with the Russo brothers planning their movie version of it since 2017, when they acquired the rights to The Electric State pre-publication after a fierce bidding war.
Until now though, seven years later, we had yet to see even a poster or official picture for it – and now we have several.
Netflix describes The Electric State as ‘set in an alternate, retro-futuristic version of the 1990s’.
Brown plays Michelle, an orphaned teenager searching for her younger brother, alongside a sweet but mysterious robot and an eccentric drifter.
In this society, sentient robots resembling cartoons and mascots, who once served peacefully among humans, now live in exile following a failed uprising.
However, the synopsis adds: ‘Everything Michelle thinks she knows about the world is upended one night when she’s visited by Cosmo, a sweet, mysterious robot who appears to be controlled by Christopher – Michelle’s genius younger brother whom she thought was dead. Determined to find the beloved sibling she thought she had lost, Michelle sets out across the American southwest.’
The duo then reluctantly joins forces with Keats (Pratt), a low-rent smuggler, and his wisecracking robot sidekick, Herman (voiced by Mackie).
Photos show Brown rocking a long blonde wig and wearing her hair in a very 90s high ponytail, while Pratt has a blonde scraggly cut, beard and horseshoe moustache.
Their journey takes them into the Exclusion Zone, a corner of the desert where robots now exist on their own, where they encounter a group of strange new allies.
It also becomes clear that the forces behind Christopher’s disappearance are more sinister than they ever expected.
Michelle and Keats travel in an orange Volkswagen van and are shown encountering a variety of animatronics and robots along the way – from the giant to the very yellow and smiley.
Both also encounter some action, with Michelle arming up and Keats seen running near explosions on what appears to be a battlefield.
Jason Alexander, Woody Norman, Jenny Slate and Alan Tyduk also feature in the cast for the $320m movie, according to World of Reel.
The Russos of course helmed one of the streamer’s most watched films of all time with The Gray Man in 2022; it sits at sixth on the overall list of Netflix’s most popular films with 139,300,000 views in its first 91 days.
Thanks to its popularity, a sequel was greenlit almost immediately – which could possibly be one of the many reasons for The Electric State’s lengthy gestation period as that movie also remains on their roster.
Others include Brown’s Stranger Things shooting demands and various juggling with theatrical distribution rights in the interim, as well as a tragic off-set death of a crew member and delayed reshoots.
Although Netflix has not yet confirmed an official release date for next year, industry sources suggest it’s set for March 2025.
That’s according to Deadline in a piece about Brown’s upcoming slate. Before then, fans had hoped to see The Electric State in 2024.
Metro has contacted reps for Netflix for comment.
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