'Mercy': Everything we know so far about Chris Pratt and 'Dune' star's mind-blowing sci-fi thriller
Chris Pratt's 'Mercy' is one of the major releases of 2026. Directed by Timur Bekmambetov, the sci-fi action thriller follows a detective on trial accused of murdering his wife. The plot sees him with 90 minutes to prove his innocene to an AI judge (played by 'Dune' star Rebecca Ferguson) he once championed before it decides his fate. The plot is set in real-time to heighten the tension.
'Mercy' is set to release January 23, 2026 in cinemas worldwide. The official logline per Deadline reads, "Detective Raven, the architect of a system whereby accused felons have 90 minutes to prove their innocence, is now convicted. He’s up against an AI judge (Ferguson), and he doesn’t know how this occurred. Pratt’s Raven gets help from his partner (Kali Reis), who helps him retraces his steps."
Rounding up the cast are Annabelle Wallis as Nicole Raven, Chris' wife, Kylie Rogers as Britt Raven, Chris' daughter, Chris Sullivan as Rob Nelson, Kenneth Choi, Rafi Gavron, Jeff Pierre, and Tom Rezvan. Serving as producers are Charles Roven, Robert Amidon and Majd Nassif alongside Bekmambetov.
Previously, Roven spoke of how the movie came about during his panel appearance at NYCC. "We got a pitch from a writer, Marco [van Belle], who wrote the script. When we first got the script, people were talking about AI, and it wasn’t happening yet. When we started talking about the movie, all of a sudden companies were dealing with AI, and the future wasn’t definitely not far away. The fact that the movie takes place in 2029, I think every day, every week, every month that goes by, there’s something more that makes our movie true."
Bekmambetov added, "We live in a world today where AI is knocking on the door and we don’t have time to understand what happened. AI could be our enemy, our friend or our child. This ticking clock is metaphorical of the time we live in now."
Speaking ahead of the film's release, Ferguson shared her two cents on the film. "Playing Judge Maddox, an AI who is on the cusp of human understanding, so near to consciousness and yet light years away from being human, brings up many interesting questions. We expect accuracy from technology, but more and more we need to question what the online world is telling us. Artificial Intelligence is a fantastic tool, but it should always be just that — a tool to aid humans, not an alternative to humans. This film highlights some of the ways relying on AI could go very wrong."
'Mercy' releaseS January 23, 2026 in cinemas worldwide.
