The first trailer for Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride is here. And it’s a monster just like Frankenstein himself, stitched together with gorgeous imagery, surrealism, and just enough strangeness to make Warner Bros. break out in hives. Watching the two-minute teaser feels like peeking into Todd Phillips’ Joker: Folie à Deux again (cinematic beauty, an oddball love story, unsettling energy), but thankfully without Joaquin Phoenix bursting into song this time.
So what exactly are we looking at in The Bride trailer? According to the official synopsis, Christian Bale’s lonely Frankenstein wanders into 1930s Chicago and seeks out groundbreaking scientist Dr. Euphronious, played by five-time Oscar nominee Annette Bening. Together they revive a murdered young woman, birthing Jessie Buckley’s Bride. From there, things spiral into murder, possession, a cultural movement, and a combustible outlaw romance. This isn’t the traditional Frankenstein story. It’s more Bonnie and Clyde with electrodes.
If that sounds wild, it’s because it is. And the backstory of this production is just as dramatic. Back in February, Puck’s Matt Belloni revealed the film tested poorly, prompting Warner Bros. to send in co-head Pamela Abdy to “get the film into shape.” Reports suggested she struggled, and by March the studio quietly bumped the release from fall 2025 to March 6, 2026. For a while, it sounded like The Bride might never find its footing. But somehow, Gyllenhaal and Warners landed on a version they both liked, wrapped post-production, and secured an R rating.
The real question is how Gyllenhaal, with only one feature under her belt, managed to convince a major studio to hand her $100 million for an R-rated fever dream. Her 2021 debut, Netflix’s The Lost Daughter, was a critical darling that scored three Oscar nominations and a Best Screenplay win at Venice. But that was a quiet character study. This is a gothic monster movie with Bale, Buckley, Penélope Cruz, John Mulaney, Peter Sarsgaard, Annette Bening, and Jake Gyllenhaal all in the mix. Talk about raising the stakes.
If Joker and Folie à Deux hit your sweet spot, there’s a good chance this twisted love story in The Bride will too. And Warner Bros., nervous or not, might just have another monster hit on their hands.
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