Trailer for DOG 51 Unleashes a Futuristic Sci-Fi Thriller About AI Law Enforcement
Studio Canal has dropped the first official trailer for Dog 51, the latest sci-fi thriller from French filmmaker Cédric Jimenez, and it looks like a gripping ride into the dangers of predictive AI and authoritarian law enforcement.
Set in a near-future Paris, Dog 51 imagines a city divided into three rigid zones, where social classes are kept apart under the watchful eye of ALMA, a hyper-advanced predictive AI that has completely reshaped policing.
When the creator of ALMA is murdered, elite agent Salia (Adèle Exarchopoulos) and disillusioned cop Zem (Gilles Lellouche) are reluctantly forced to team up to solve the crime. What they uncover threatens to unravel the very system that controls their society.
The trailer teases a dark, high-stakes world reminiscent of I, Robot and Minority Report, with big dystopian visuals and plenty of intrigue about the balance between justice and technology.
Alongside Exarchopoulos and Lellouche, the stacked cast includes Louis Garrel, Romain Duris, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Artus, Lala &ce, Stéphane Bak, and even Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk fame.
Director Jimenez sees this story as the final chapter of his trilogy on law enforcement, following BAC Nord and Novembre. He explained his approach in a statement:
"Chien 51 is my third film exploring the theme of law enforcement. It completes a trilogy on the subject, bringing together the ‘dog’ from BAC Nord and the elite officer from Novembre.
“If the police are the institution that enables the polis — the city — to function by tracking down criminals, what happens when it adopts a tool so powerful that it pushes the system to its breaking point, even bypassing its essential counterpart: justice? Can we entrust the safety of a city's inhabitants to an ultraintelligent tool devoid of conscience and humanity?"
The screenplay was written by Olivier Demangel and Jimenez, adapted from a novel by Laurent Gaudé, with production from Hugo Sélignac. The film will open in French cinemas on October 15, 2025, including IMAX screenings.
Dog 51 looks like a tense and thought-provoking futuristic thriller, asking tough questions about how much power we’re willing to hand over to machines in the name of safety. A U.S. release date hasn’t been announced yet.