Benedict Cumberbatch-Olivia Colman film 'The Roses' eyes August 2025 release

The Roses, a contemporary update of the Michael Douglas-Kathleen Turner dark comedy The War of the Roses, will hit theatres on August 29, 2025.

Starring Benedict Cumberbatch ("Sherlock", "Doctor Strange") and Olivia Colman ("The Crown", "The Favourite") as Theo and Ivy Rose, the film follows a seemingly perfect couple with the ideal marriage, which finally collapses when Theo struggles professionally. Beneath their image of being the perfect family lies the immense competition and resentment that explodes into chaos. 

 

Directed by Jay Roach ("Meet The Parents") and screenwriter Tony McNamara ("Poor Things"), the film promises a witty reimagination of the 1989 film, itself adapted from the 1981 Warren Adler novel The War of the Roses.

 

The ensemble cast includes Andy Samberg, Kate McKinnon, Allison Janney, Sunita Mani, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Demetriou, and Zoe Chao.

 

Colman and Cumberbatch portray Ivy and Theo as career-driven, family-oriented yet deeply flawed characters trying to maintain the illusion of success and love.

 

In an interview with Vanity Fair, Cumberbatch says, “The film is a parable of two people who loved each other intensely, then ended up hating each other intensely and missing the middle ground.” He continues, “Much of it is shockingly recognizable: how we struggle to show love toward the people we love the most, and how this can all go wrong very quickly if we’re not careful about nurturing and nourishing the relationships at the center of our families.”

 

In the same interview, the director Jay Roach explains, “We’re idiots. Humans are so flawed. We want so much to be our high selves, especially with each other, and the illusion and the miracle of love is what sometimes gets us through,” He says, “But when it turns, when it goes in the opposite direction, it can be extremely painful. And one enjoyable way to acknowledge that is through humour.”

 

With a star-studded cast and a script that balances both satire and sentiment, The Roses is meant to be one of the most talked-about films of 2025. 

 

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