Atropia was a big hit at Sundance earlier this year, winning the festival’s top prize for Drama. It’s an odd film, a war satire that explores the impact of real feelings in a staged conflict setting. But odd or not, writer/director Hailey Gates’ movie connected with audiences, and now Vertical is set to release it into theaters beginning next month, with the hope that it will continue to impress.
Alia Shawkat stars in Atropia as an actress hired by the U.S. military for a role playing program at a fabricated city constructed for war games. Callum Turner, soon to be seen wooing Elizabeth Olsen in Eternity, plays an actor hired to play an insurgent. When real feelings emerge between them, the lines between reality and fantasy start to blur.
Also in the cast are Zahra Alzubaidi, Tony Shawkat, Jane Levy, Tim Heidecker, Lola Kirke, Chloe Sevigny, Phil Burgers, Chloe East, and Tim Blake Nelson co-star.
You can find our glowing review by Cortland here. Atropia hits theaters on December 12th, with a wider rollout in January 2026.
