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Steven Soderbergh has made a name for himself the past few decades as one of the most prolific and crafty filmmakers of his time, and his upcoming movie, Black Bag, looks to be another great addition to that list. Years after making some of the best ‘90s movies, introducing audiences to the Oceans crew, and creating a terrifying thriller that pretty much predicted the COVID-19 response, Soderbergh is coming out with a mysterious spy thriller.
Though not a lot has been revealed about the finer details of Black Bag and its story, we actually know quite a bit about the movie, including where it lands on the 2025 movie schedule, it’s all-star cast (even by Soderbergh’s standards), and so much more. Let’s break it all down now, shall we?
What Is The Black Bag Release Date?
You may want to add a date to your calendar for next spring as Blag Bag has a release date of March 14, 2025, Focus Features has announced. And while the film will almost certainly find its way to the streaming world like so many other movies from the studio, the spy thriller will be one Steven Soderbergh’s few releases in the past five years to make its debut on the big screen. While Magic Mike’s Last Dance took a theatrical route first, others like Kimi, Let Them All Talk, and The Laundromat were all exclusive to platforms like Max and Netflix.
As far as competition, Black Bag will open the same weekend as the Jack Quaid-led action thriller, Novocaine, and just one week after Ryan Coogler’s untitled supernatural film starring Michael B. Jordan hits the big screen.
The Black Bag Cast
In the past, Steven Soderbergh has gotten some massive Hollywood talent to appear in his movies. If you look at the Ocean’s Eleven cast, the actors in Contagion, and pretty much everything else he’s made the past 30 years, you’ll see huge starpower up and down the sheet. It’s not going to be any different with the Black Bag cast, as it’s full of tremendous actors.
Though Focus Features hasn’t come out and said who they will be playing in the upcoming movie, the following actors have been announced for Black Bag: Cate Blanchett, Michael Fassbender, Regé-Jean Page, Marisa Abela, Naomie Harris, Tom Burke, and Pierce Brosnan.
This will be Blanchett’s fourth time working with Soderbergh, as she previously appeared in The Good German and Ocean’s 8, as well as the 2011 short film titled The Last Time I Saw Michael Gregg. Fassbender, who also sits atop the cast, appeared in the director’s 2011 action thriller, Haywire.
What Is Black Bag About?
Focus Features has yet to release a plot synposis for Black Bag, but it has been described as a spy thirller by outets like Deadline. When speaking with The Hollywood Reporter in July 2024, Soderbergh didn’t get into the nitty gritty of the plot though he did compare it to Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? but set in the intelligence community, saying:
It’s about two people in the intelligence community. So it’s very intimate. When David Koepp and I were working on Presence, we were just thinking of general ideas. And I said it might be interesting to make Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? but George and Martha are in the intelligence community. What would that be like? And he said, ‘Oh, that’s interesting.’ And then months later, he’s like, ‘I have a draft of the script.’ And it was great. So it’s a very, very specific take on people who are in the intelligence business but also have complex personal, emotional lives. It’s the kind of thing that I like a lot.
For those unfamiliar, Mike Nichols’ 1966 adaptation of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? play centered around a party at the house of a professor (played by Richard Burton) and his wife (played by Elizabeth Taylor) where their complex relationship plays out over the night.
Production Kicked Off In May 2024
We should know more about Black Bag in the coming weeks, as production on Soderbergh’s latest directorial effort kicked off earlier this year. According to the Film & Television Industry Alliance, the London-based shoot was slated to get underway in May 2024, which was seemingly backed up by various behind-the-scenes photos shared on Twitter showing stars like Cate Blanchett, Michael Fassbender, Pierce Brosnan, and Regé-Jean Page in character on the set of the film.
There has still been no official word on if production has wrapped or how much longer cameras will be rolling, but we should know soon.
Black Bag Was Penned By Jurassic Park Screenwriter David Koepp
In addition to collaborating with actors like Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender on his latest project, Steven Soderbergh also worked with recent collaborator David Koepp for the Black Bag screenplay.
One of the most well-known and prolific writers in Hollywood, Koepp is best known for adapting Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park into what has gone down as one of the best ‘90s sci-fi movies as well as perhaps the most influential film of the decade. Over the years, Koepp has also worked on films like Mission: Impossible, Spider-Man, and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny to name a few. He’s also directing the Cold Storage adaptation, which is based on his own novel of the same name.
Black Bag Isn’t The Only Steven Soderbergh Movie On The Way
If you thought we were only getting one Steven Soderbergh movie in the near future, think again, because he has another project on the way. At some point soon, the world will get to see Presence, the upcoming horror movie starring Lucy Liu that had people walking out of its intense Sundance premiere earlier in 2024. Described as a supernatural thriller, the movie follows a wealthy family as they come in contact with a mysterious entity after moving into their new home. Shot from the presence’s point of view, this movie sounds rather revolutionary, to be honest.
Presence was another product of Soderbergh’s collaboration with David Koepp, as the famed screenwriter penned the script for the film that does not yet have a release date through Neon.
Expect to hear a lot more about Black Bag and other Steven Soderbergh projects in the coming weeks and months. But, while you wait, now is a great time to check out the 2024 movie schedule and get caught up on everything coming to the big screen.