‘Wednesday’ Star Jenna Ortega’s Dystopian Sci-Fi Movie Arrives in 10 Days

While fans eagerly await the third season of Netflix's most-watched show, Wednesday, star Jenna Ortega will make a big-screen comeback in the coming days. Ortega, who was quickly declared the brightest star of her generation, has had an uneven journey living up to that high standard. She seemed to be on the right path with Scream VI and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which grossed $167 million and $450 million worldwide in 2023 and 2024, respectively, but she followed them up with two box-office bombs that she also executive-produced. These were Death of a Unicorn and Hurry Up Tomorrow, which grossed around $15 million and $8 million, respectively. She now has two major sci-fi movies lined up, the first of which will be released theatrically on October 23.

The movie also features Amy Adams, who has had a rough run in the last decade, after being in a position similar to that of Ortega early in her career. The sci-fi film is based on a novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, whose earlier work in the same genre served as the basis for the critically acclaimed Never Let Me Go, starring Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley, and Andrew Garfield. The new movie was directed by Taika Waititi, who is attempting to course-correct after a decade in which he delivered two contrasting Thor movies and two even more contrasting mid-budget films. During this time, he also worked on numerous television shows that have developed strong cult followings.