Adam McKay is making another movie, and this time it's a sci-fi comedy. Details are scarce, but Sony has greenlit a mysterious project from McKay and Together director Michael Shanks, with production expected to begin later this year.
The plot is under wraps, but sources describe it as "satirical, high-concept, and deeply weird"—which could mean anything from climate satire to AI apocalypse to billionaires colonizing Mars. Given McKay's recent track record, expect pointed political commentary wrapped in absurdist humor.
McKay has had a fascinating, uneven career. He started with Anchorman and Talladega Nights, pivoted to prestige with The Big Short and Vice, then made Don't Look Up—a divisive Netflix satire that was either a brilliant indictment of modern complacency or a smug, heavy-handed mess, depending on who you ask.
Personally, I thought Don't Look Up was both. It had sharp moments and great performances, but it also suffered from the problem that plagues a lot of contemporary satire: it assumed the audience was too stupid to get the joke, so it repeated the joke louder and louder until nobody was laughing anymore.
Shanks, meanwhile, is a rising talent. His debut feature, Together, was a micro-budget sci-fi drama that premiered at Sundance to strong reviews. It's a two-hander about a couple trapped in a time loop during a pandemic—a premise that could have been gimmicky but turned out to be genuinely moving. Shanks has a light touch, which is exactly what McKay needs right now.
The partnership is intriguing because Shanks and McKay have very different sensibilities. McKay goes big—sweeping narratives, stacked casts, everything is a metaphor. Shanks goes small—intimate stories, minimal dialogue, trust the audience to connect the dots. If they can find a middle ground, this could be special.
Of course, it could also be a disaster. Sci-fi comedy is notoriously difficult to pull off. For every Galaxy Quest or The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, there are a dozen misfires that are neither funny enough to work as comedy nor compelling enough to work as science fiction.
Sony has been hungry for original IP lately, especially after the success of films like Spider-Verse and the ongoing struggles of their comic-book universe. A high-concept comedy from two proven filmmakers fits their current strategy: mid-budget, director-driven, and distinct enough to cut through the noise.
No casting announcements yet, but expect McKay to pull from his usual roster of talent—Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Margot Robbie, Jonah Hill. He's also been vocal about wanting to work with younger, more diverse casts, so don't be surprised if this skews toward newcomers.
As for what the movie is actually about—your guess is as good as mine. But if I had to speculate, I'd bet on something involving tech billionaires, existential dread, and at least one scene where someone explains a complicated concept using a metaphor involving food.
In Hollywood, nobody knows anything—but Adam McKay will definitely have an opinion about it.
