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Searchlight Pictures will release the Japan-set dramedy Rental Family on November 21, The Wrap is reporting. The movie stars Brendan Fraser in his first leading role since he won the Best Actor Oscar in 2023 for The Whale.
Fraser plays a down-on-his-luck actor living in Tokyo in the upcoming film. The protagonist take a job at a rental family company to play various stand-in roles in other people’s lives. In the process, he bonds with the families he works with and builds surprising human connections.
Rental Family also stars Shogun actor Takehiro Hira and Japan Academy Award winner Akira Emoto. Mitsuyo Miyazaki (Netflix series Beef), who’s known professionally as Hikari, directed the film, which was announced in November 2023.
Searchlight will distribute Rental Family in theaters on the weekend before Thanksgiving. The dramedy strives to build up word-of-mouth among arthouse audiences during the end-of-year holiday weekend. The film will share specialty screens with Chloe Zhao’s Hamnet, which Focus Features will release in theaters the following weekend. The dramedy will also premiere on the same day as the wide release of Universal’s anticipated sequel, Wicked: For Good.
Fraser experienced a slow period in his career during the late 2010s. When he made sexual assault allegations against former Foreign Press Association head Phillip Berk, he received fewer acting opportunities.
But Fraser went on to once again receive acclaim after he appeared in The Whale. He received a nomination for the Best Actor Golden Globe Award in 2023, but refused to attend the ceremony.
Mari Yamamoto (Monarch: Legacy of Monsters), Takehiro Hira (Ishido Kazunari on Shōgun) and veteran actor Akira Emoto serve as the supporting cast of Family Rental.
Besides Rental Family, Searchlight Pictures will release the black comedy, The Roses, in theaters on August 29. Jay Roach directed the movie. Benedict Cumberbatch, Olivia Colman, Andy Samberg and Kate McKinnon star in the satirical comedy.
The distributor will also release the horror comedy sequel Ready or Not 2: Here I Come on April 10, 2026. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett returned to the series to direct the follow-up to the hit 2019 comedy. Samara Weaving is reprising her role as Grace Maccaullay in the series’ second entry.
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