Kore-eda’s ‘Sheep in the Box’ Gets U.S. Trailer as NEON Sets July 24 Release

The trailer launch begins a U.S. rollout that will test whether Kore-eda’s humane take on family grief can shape public conversations about AI replicas of the dead.

Overview

NEON released the film’s official U.S. trailer and poster in June 2026 and has scheduled a theatrical opening on July 24 in New York and Los Angeles followed by a nationwide rollout.
The story follows a grieving couple who bring a humanoid identical to their late son into their home, a premise the director conceived to probe what technology does to human values.
Hirokazu Kore-eda wrote, directed and edited the film, which stars Haruka Ayase, Daigo Yamamoto and Rimu/Rito Kuwaki with Ryuto Kondo as cinematographer and Yuta Bandoh composing the score.
Sheep in the Box premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival and opened in Japan in May 2026 before NEON began U.S. marketing.
Early reactions have ranged from mixed to negative in some reviews, leaving the U.S. release as a test of whether Kore-eda’s intimate, humanist style will resonate in a sci-fi story about AI and grief.