Brendan Fraser's New Searchlight Dramedy "Rental Family" Gets Prime Awards Season Release Date
Fraser plays a struggling actor in Tokyo who finds unexpected connections in an unconventional "rental family" business.
Brendan Fraser, fresh(ish) off his Oscar win, is set to star in Searchlight Pictures’ Rental Family, a dramedy filmed in Japan.
What’s Happening:
- Searchlight Pictures has officially set the release date for Rental Family for November 21. The film will open on the weekend before Thanksgiving, aiming to build strong word-of-mouth among arthouse audiences.
- As The Wrap reports, the movie features Fraser as a down-on-his-luck actor in Tokyo who finds an unusual job at a “rental family" company. His role involves playing various stand-in characters in other people’s lives, leading him to form unexpected and genuine human connections with the families he encounters.
- The cast also includes Takehiro Hira, known for his role in Shogun, and Japan Academy Award winner Akira Emoto.
- The film is directed by Mitsuyo Miyazaki, who goes by the professional name Hikari. Her previous credits include directing three episodes of the critically acclaimed Netflix series Beef, as well as the 2019 Berlinale Panorama audience award winner 37 Seconds. Hikari also co-wrote the screenplay for Rental Family with Stephen Blahut.
- Rental Family will share specialty screens with Chloe Zhao’s Hamnet, released by Focus Features, and will open the same day as Universal’s wide release, Wicked: For Good.
- The film has generated early Oscar buzz for Fraser’s performance, with some industry insiders suggesting it could be career-best work, potentially positioning it as a contender in the 2025 awards season.
- Hikari has been developing Rental Family as a passion project since 2019, indicating a long-term personal investment in the story, which she co-wrote with Stephen Blahut.
About Brendan Fraser and Disney:
- Brendan Fraser starred as George in the 1997 Disney film George of the Jungle.
- Fraser narrated the 2025 Disneynature documentary Sea Lions of the Galapagos.
- He served as a guest narrator at Disney World’s Candlelight Processional in December 2023
- Fraser’s early Hollywood role as a thawed caveman in cult classic Encino Man (1992), produced by Disney, marked his breakthrough.
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- Vote for Pedro at a “Napoleon Dynamite" Screening and Cast Q&A During San Diego Comic-Con
- Searchlight Pictures Producing Adaptation of Hit Time Travel-Centric Audiobook “The Glitch"
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