By the time the nominees for the 96th Academy Awards were announced, Robot Dreams stood out as one of the most cryptic selections. Chances are, you have yet to watch this film, but thankfully, it seems it won’t be long before it reaches our screens.
For many cinephiles, Robot Dreams was already a familiar title. This Spanish-French animated film premiered at the 76th Cannes Film Festival on May 21, 2023, and has garnered multiple nominations and accolades, along with incredibly positive reviews. At the time of writing, it boasts a 98 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
If you’re hoping to finally hop aboard this wholesome (yet, we hear, very sad) Robot Dreams train, here’s everything we know so far.
When is Robot Dreams coming out?
The movie Robot Dreams is set to premiere on May 31, 2024. Despite having its international release in Spanish theaters on December 6, 2023, the movie only reached the silver screens in the UK and Ireland in March 2024. The release in the U.S. is slated for a bit later than in Europe, but we’ll finally get to watch the movie that left such a mark on the hearts of those who have already had the pleasure of seeing it.
By the time the Oscars came around, many fans hoped to watch Pablo Berger’s film on streaming before the red carpet was rolled out, but this didn’t happen and as of writing there’s still no official release date for Robot Dreams on any streaming platform.
What is Robot Dreams about?
The trailer for Robot Dreams has officially been released, giving us a glimpse into the story of a dog and a robot in 1980s Manhattan. While the premise may seem rather comical, the story itself is anything but. This animated picture is actually labeled as a tragicomedy due to its themes surrounding friendship, loneliness, and abandonment.
Based on the 2007 comic of the same name by Sara Varon, Robot Dreams is quite unique in many ways. For starters, the movie contains no dialogue whatsoever, forcing the audience to watch a dialogue-free film for 1 hour and 42 minutes. However, we hear that the lack of dialogue doesn’t diminish the quality or emotional impact of the film in any way. In fact, it may just accentuate the characters’ own feelings by portraying them through pure animation.
Unsurprisingly, this also means that the movie has no cast, so providing you with information on that would be simply pointless. However, we can tell you who’s behind the scenes working on this beautifully tragic story. Directed and produced by Berger, as mentioned before, the Spanish director also received help from Alfonso de Vilallonga, who composed the music, and Fernando Franco, who handled the editing.
The film was distributed by Bteam Pictures in Spain and Wild Bunch in France. In the U.S., NEON, an American independent film production company, will be responsible for distributing the film.