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Chicago International Film Festival Unveils Star-Studded Opening Night Lineup for 61st Edition
Oscar winners Bradley Cooper and Guillermo del Toro headline festival kickoff, while Kathryn Bigelow’s nuclear thriller A House of Dynamite draws awards-season buzz.
Chicago, November 20, 2025 — The 61st Chicago International Film Festival (CIFF) will open October 15 with a red-carpet world-premiere double bill that pairs Bradley Cooper’s intimate comedy Is This Thing On? with Guillermo del Toro’s gothic re-imagining Frankenstein, organizers announced today. The twelve-day event, North America’s longest-running competitive international film festival, will screen 190 films from 63 countries and is expected to welcome more than 140,000 attendees, a 12 % increase over 2024.
Cooper’s film—shot on location in New York and starring Will Arnett and Laura Dern as a divorcing couple who find catharsis in stand-up comedy—will receive its U.S. premiere at the historic Music Box Theatre, while del Toro’s Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth) unspools simultaneously across the street at the AMC NewCity 14. Both venues will be linked by a closed-circuit simulcast to accommodate 2,200 ticket-holders, the largest single-night crowd in CIFF history. “Opening night is engineered for maximum theatrical impact,” said Festival Director Vivian Teng. “We want audiences to feel the collective electricity that only a festival environment can generate.”
Industry analysts project the 2025 edition will generate USD 38 million in local economic activity, according to data released this month by the Chicago Film Office—a 9 % bump fueled by expanded hospitality packages and a record 450 visiting filmmakers. Hotel occupancy in the Loop is already tracking at 94 % for festival week, and American Airlines has added two daily LAX-ORD wide-body flights to accommodate talent logistics. The surge mirrors a national rebound: domestic film-festival attendance has climbed 18 % since 2022, per a [2025 National Endowment for the Arts survey](https://www.arts.gov/impact/research/film-festival-audience-survey-2025) that credits streaming-fatigued audiences seeking communal experiences.
Kathryn Bigelow’s geopolitical thriller A House of Dynamite—picked up by Netflix after a frenzied Toronto bidding war—will receive its Midwest premiere on night two. The film, which tracks a 48-hour U.S. military scramble after an unattributed missile launch, features Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson and Jared Harris. Bigelow and screenwriter Noah Oppenheim will participate in a live Q&A moderated by Chicago Sun-Times critic Richard Roeper. “CIFF has always been a launchpad for awards-season contenders,” noted Roeper. “Between Dynamite, Cooper’s crowd-pleaser and del Toro’s genre pedigree, Chicago is poised to influence the Oscar conversation for the third straight year.”
Streaming platforms have acquired six of the festival’s top prizes since 2021, a shift that Artistic Director Mimi Plauché attributes to CIFF’s curated blend of prestige and discovery. “We program for Academy voters and algorithm-weary cinephiles,” Plauché said. “Our 2025 slate includes 38 world premieres, 17 of which already have distribution, ensuring that critics and buyers leave with actionable content.” This year’s industry pass allotment sold out in 36 hours, a pace faster than Sundance 2025.
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“Chicago is the city that invented the multiplex, so it’s fitting that we open with a double feature that bridges arthouse and mainstream,” said CIFF CEO Marjorie P. Craig. “Our mission is to democratize cinema—whether you come for Bradley Cooper’s punchlines or Kathryn Bigelow’s geopolitical tension, you’ll find a seat at CIFF.”
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