While the Animorphs franchise may not be what it was in its late 1990s heyday, French director Thomas Cailley has your fix with his new thriller The Animal Kingdom. The Cannes premiere, which just racked up a whopping 12 César Awards nominations, imagines a world of mutations in human genetics that cause people to transform into hybrid creatures. Starring Romain Duris, Paul Kircher, and Adèle Exarchopoulos, Magnet Releasing will now debut the film in the U.S. starting at Rendez-Vous with French Cinema at the end of the month, followed by a March 15 theatrical and digital release. Ahead of the bow, they’ve released a new trailer.
Rory O’Connor said in his review, “In The Animal Kingdom, an Un Certain Regard-selected science-fiction romp from France, human-animal mutations are the new norm. Director Thomas Cailley begins things in media res with a familiar disaster-movie scene: François (Romain Duris) and Émile (Paul Kircher)––father and son, respectively––are stuck in traffic, making chit-chat, when something slowly begins capturing the attention of other drivers. An ambulance across the way begins to rumble. Then a man with a large winged arm bursts out, causing some damage before scurrying down a tunnel. Only mildly ruffled, François exchanges a jaded aphorism with another driver over: ‘Strange times.'”
See the trailer below.
The Animal Kingdom opens on March 15.