When will Brandan Fraser’s Rental Family premiere? Release date, cast details, first look, and more

Rental Family, a new comedy-drama featuring Oscar winner Brendan Fraser, is set to open theatrically later this year. Written and directed by celebrated Japanese director Hikari, the film features a multi-cultural tale about contemporary Tokyo.

With Brendan Fraser fronting the cast in his first starring role since The Whale, Rental Family goes into the emotional depths of hired companionship and the unforeseen attachments that ensue.

Searchlight Pictures officially announced that the movie will be screened at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival this September, with a U.S. theatrical release on November 21, 2025.

The trailer of the film, released on Tuesday, gives us a preview of the emotional and comedic nuances of a tale that conflates loneliness, identity, and performance in richly human ways.

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When and where is Rental Family releasing?

The movie will have its first public screening at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in September of 2025, one of the highest-regarded festivals for international and indie film.

After its debut, the movie will open in U.S. theaters on November 21, 2025, with Searchlight Pictures distributing.

The official synopsis of the movie reads,

"A lonely American actor living in Tokyo starts working for a Japanese "rental family" company to play stand-in roles in other people's lives. Along the way, he finds surprising connections and unexpected joys within his built-in family."

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What is Rental Family about, and first look details explored

Set in Tokyo, the movie follows a lonely American actor played by Fraser who takes on an unusual job: working for a Japanese rental family agency. This type of work involves hiring individuals to act as family members or companions in other people's lives.

With each role for strangers that Fraser's character assumes—a father, husband, and friend on demand—he begins to develop genuine emotional connections that lead him to question his own identity, history, and purpose.

The first movie trailer hints at a blend of emotional authenticity and subtle humor, supported by richly visual storytelling. As Fraser's character navigates his roles, the line between performance and real life starts to blur.

The trailer also hints at the soft but heart-wrenching tone director Hikari has demonstrated in the past, guaranteeing a film that's emotional yet cerebral.

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Who is in the Rental Family cast?

The movie boasts a talented international cast topped by Brendan Fraser, who stars as the emotionally lost American actor at the heart of the tale. This is Fraser's first starring role since taking home the Oscar for Best Actor for The Whale (2023).

Taking her place alongside Fraser is Takehiro Hira, Japanese actor of Lost Girls & Love Hotels and Snake Eyes fame. Mari Yamamoto, who has been in Pachinko and Godzilla Minus One, plays one of the people who has close contact with Fraser's character, further developing the cultural and emotional aspects of the rental family system.

Akira Emoto, a veteran in Japanese cinema, and Shannon Gorman, a rising talent, round out the supporting cast. Their roles remain under wraps, but both actors are expected to play key figures in the emotionally intricate network Fraser’s character finds himself entangled in.

The movie is a production that has been in the works since 2019, with production starting in March 2024 and concluding at the end of May 2024. Hikari shares credit with Stephen Blahut on this film.

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For the unversed, the movie releases in theatres on November 21, 2025.