Guardians of the Galaxy Reunion: Bradley Cooper and Dave Bautista Join Oscar-Winning Parasite Director’s Next Film

Well, here’s something you probably didn’t have on your 2027 movie bingo card: Bong Joon Ho, the director who gave us Parasite and Okja, is taking a hard left turn into animation for his next project, a feature called Ally. And yes, the voice cast is already shaping up to be stacked.

The Big Reunions (Plus a Few Surprises)

First things first: Bradley Cooper and Dave Bautista, who you’ll remember as Rocket and Drax from the Guardians of the Galaxy movies (and a few Avengers team-ups), are jumping into the deep end together yet again—this time as voices in Bong’s animated adventure. So in case you missed their dynamic, here’s another helping, but with more squid.

The rest of the confirmed cast is equally interesting, if not slightly random:

• Bradley Cooper
• Dave Bautista
• Alex Jayne Go
• Ayo Edebiri (fresh off winning pretty much every award for The Bear)
• Finn Wolfhard (because there’s an unwritten rule that any animated movie needs at least one Stranger Things kid)
• Rachel House
• Werner Herzog (yes, really... I can only assume he’s narrating some existential ocean disaster scene)

The Story (It Gets Quirky)

Ally centers on—wait for it—a piglet squid called Ally who lives in the pitch-black depths of the Pacific. She dreams of basking in the sun (which for a squid, is nothing short of wild ambition) and being the star of a wildlife documentary. Her tranquil, underwater life gets completely overturned when a mysterious aircraft crash-lands into the ocean, sending her and her oddball squad of friends on an epic journey up to the surface.

The movie is inspired by real marine creatures, and from the way it’s being pitched, expect some genuine science mixed with full-on family-friendly adventure. Themes are classic Bong: friendship, courage, and the not-so-simple relationships between humans and sea creatures, plus the usual balancing act between big set pieces and emotional gut-punches. There will apparently be plenty of jokes and action along the way.

Who's Running the Show?

Bong is directing and also co-wrote the screenplay with Jason Yu. He’s producing along with Seo Woo-sik. As for getting this thing seen outside South Korea, here’s how the distribution map looks:

Neon (who also pushed Parasite in the US): North America.
Pathé: France, Benelux, Switzerland, and West Africa—plus handling international sales except Japan and China.
CJ Entertainment and Penture: South Korea, Vietnam, Turkey, Indonesia—and, between them with Pathé, the complicated job of figuring out Asia’s rights.

Wait, When Do We Get to See This?

2027. Yeah, you read that right—it’s a few years away. Bong’s most recent outing, the ambitious sci-fi black comedy Mickey 17, hit in 2025. That one was cheered by critics but honestly fizzled commercially, scraping in $133 million at the box office with a reported production budget of $118 million—a pretty underwhelming haul for a filmmaker with an Oscar on the shelf.

Parting Thought

If you told me last year I’d be writing about Bradley Cooper, Dave Bautista, and Werner Herzog all voicing sea life together for Bong Joon Ho, I wouldn’t have believed you, but here we are. One thing’s for sure: whatever Bong is cooking up with Ally is going to be odd, ambitious, and probably worth keeping a close eye on—even if we have to wait a while.

'Her peaceful life is disrupted when a mysterious aircraft sinks into the ocean. Consequently, Ally, alongside her colorful yet loyal companions, embarks on a journey taking her all the way to the surface world.'