Romain Gavras does not do subtle, and his latest project is proof. The first poster for Sacrifice has arrived, and it looks exactly like the kind of unhinged, mythological satire that will either be brilliant or a beautiful disaster. Either way, you are going to watch it.
The film stars Chris Evans as Mike Tyler, a movie star in the middle of an existential crisis who gets abducted by a doomsday cult. Anya Taylor-Joy plays Joan, the cult leader who believes that sacrificing three people to a volcano will prevent an extinction-level event. Yes, a volcano. No, this is not a joke. The cast also includes Vincent Cassel as the world’s richest man, Salma Hayek as his pop-star wife, John Malkovich as the cult’s father figure, and Charli XCX and Yung Lean as Mother Nature and Arthur, respectively. If that lineup sounds like a Mad Libs fever dream, congratulations, you understand the assignment.
The poster itself leans hard into the film’s theatrical, heightened aesthetic. Taylor-Joy’s Joan is the focal point, all intensity and otherworldly presence, while Evans looks appropriately distressed. The tagline “The end is coming” is doing a lot of heavy lifting, but honestly, with this cast and this premise, it earns the drama. Gavras, who co-wrote the script with Succession’s Will Arbery, has described Sacrifice as a “roller coaster” full of rug pulls. He also admitted that he and Arbery realized mid-writing that they were essentially making Lord of the Rings, except the ring of power is a human sacrifice and Mount Doom is an actual active volcano in Greece.
Speaking of Greece, Sacrifice was filmed on location there, plus Bulgaria and Iceland. Gavras reportedly hauled 200 extras in gala dresses to a real mine in Northern Greece and made his cast climb an active volcano every morning. The gear went up on donkeys. This is the kind of unhinged production energy that usually results in either a masterpiece or a cautionary tale. There is no middle ground. You do not make a film like this by accident. You make it because you are slightly unhinged and have access to movie stars who trust your completely unhinged vision.
The film premiered at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival and Netflix picked up U.S. and French distribution rights in May 2026. It hits the streamer on October 16, which gives you just enough time to mentally prepare for whatever unholy combination of eat-the-rich satire and mythological doom cult Gavras has cooked up. Early reviews from TIFF called Sacrifice propulsive and hilarious, if a little messy.
Evans has already proven he can do self-aware comedy, and Taylor-Joy was basically born to play a zealot with impeccable bone structure. Sacrifice might be messy. It might be genius. But it will definitely not be boring. Mark your calendars and maybe sacrifice a goat. Just kidding. Or am I?
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