Ant-Man, Wednesday, Adam Warlock, John Carpenter, and killer unicorns? Yep, A24 is cooking with ‘Death Of A Unicorn’

Yesterday, A24 ever so courteously let us know that we’d be getting a trailer for their film Death Of A Unicorn today. Those who were already clued into this one knew that it would follow the fallout of a father (Paul Rudd) and a daughter (Jenna Ortega) running over a unicorn, but now that we’ve seen said trailer, it can be said quite definitively that A24’s usual customers will be locked right into this one.

The trailer kicks off with Elliot (Rudd) and Ridley (Ortega) having already beaten the unicorn in a game of chicken, leaving Ridley traumatized on an existential level. The setting quickly gives way to the estate of one Dell Leopold, the head of a pharmaceutical empire that happens to be in the middle of crisis management. Among the Leopold family is one Will Poulter, who seems to be the conduit of Death Of A Unicorn‘s dry, dark, acute, and effective sense of humor.

Anyway, the Leopolds get dollar signs in their eyes when presented with the unicorn, and proceed to use the various pieces of its corpse to develop magical drugs that can cure cancer, bestow their s with immortality, and pull off other such miracles. The catch? There’s another unicorn nearby, and it’s none too pleased about the fate of its fallen brethren. Cue the mythological carnage set against a remixed rendition of The Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations.”

Beyond Rudd, Ortega, and Poulter, the film will also star Richard E. Grant (Saltburn, Argylle), Téa Leoni (Only Murders in the Building), Anthony Carrigan (James Gunn’s Superman), Sunita Mani (Mr. Robot), Jessica Hynes (The Franchise), and Steve Park (Mickey 17). It will serve as Alex Scharfman’s feature directorial and screenwriting debut, and will be blessed with a score from the legendary John Carpenter, which he’ll co-create with son Cody Carpenter and godson Daniel Davies.

At a glance, Death Of A Unicorn‘s themes will fly in the realm of greed and exploitation, with the Leopolds’ comeuppance at the hands (horn?) of a unicorn being a none-too-subtle indictment of the rich. In all likelihood, though, it won’t be as cut and dry as that. The heart of the film seems to be Ortega’s character Ripley, who appears to form some kind of bond with the unicorn that allows her to tap into a deep truth about the universe. So, as fun as it will be to watch some of the film’s more gonzo proceedings play out, all the keen eyes will be on Ortega as we watch this unravel.

Even better is the fact that we don’t have to wait too long for it. The film is scheduled for a spring 2025 release date, and A24 will have plenty of other goodies to tide us over until then, the biggest of which being The Legend of Ochi, the directorial debut of Isaiah Saxton featuring the likes of Willem Dafoe and Finn Wolfhard, wherein a little girl named Yuri (Helena Zengel) befriends a baby ochi (a mix between an orangutan, cat, and Grogu) and endeavors to return it to its family. That film hits theaters on Feb. 28.