‘The Wedding Banquet’ First Look: Lily Gladstone and Bowen Yang Star in Andrew Ahn’s Reimagining of Ang Lee Classic

Lee's 1993 film won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival.

 “Fire Island” filmmaker Andrew Ahn is putting his own twist on “The Wedding Banquet” — and in his reimagining, Lily Gladstone and Bowen Yang are watching their respective partners head down the aisle. 

Ahn reinvents Ang Lee’s Golden Bear-winning 1993 film for a new era, 30 years later. Writer/director Ahn co-wrote the 2025 take on “The Wedding Banquet” with original co-screenwriter James Schamus, who co-wrote the 1993 film with Lee.

The official synopsis for the upcoming feature reads: “When Min’s (Han Gi-chan) boyfriend Chris (Yang) rejects his spontaneous marriage proposal, he convinces his best friend Angela (Kelly Marie Tran) to marry him instead, paying for her partner Liz’s (Gladstone) IVF treatments in exchange for his green card. Their plans for a subtle city hall elopement are turned upside down when Min’s grandmother makes a surprise trip from Seoul to throw them an extravagant Korean wedding banquet, which will fund the IVF treatments.”

“Minari” actress Yuh-Jung Youn and “Dìdi” and “Twin Peaks” alum Joan Chen also star.

The original “Wedding Banquet” followed a bisexual Taiwanese immigrant (Winston Chao) who marries a woman from mainland China in part to appease his parents, who instead travel from Taiwan to throw him a traditional wedding banquet that reveals his true sexuality. Lee’s “The Wedding Banquet” won the Golden Bear at the 1993 Berlin International Film Festival.

“It warms my heart to see how my film from so many years ago has inspired a new generation to reimagine a new and different version,” Ang Lee said in a statement announcing the news of Ahn’s feature. “I look forward to seeing what Andrew Ahn and his wonderful cast create.”

Ahn told Vanity Fair that the concept of film is timeless. “Weddings are intensely important markers in the growth of your relationships, even fake ones,” Ahn said. “Through the process of planning it, of going through it, you grow in your relationships.”

He added, “Seeing my brother getting married, I was wondering as a gay man if I would ever have anything like that — would the culture allow a queer version of this? This was my way of having a Korean wedding — to make a movie about it.” 

Actor Yang, who reunites with Ahn after starring in “Fire Island,” told IndieWire that “The Wedding Banquet” will be a cause for celebration. “It’s been an unforgettable, whole indelible thing,” Yang said. “Lily Gladstone is amazing. Kelly Marie Tran is amazing. Joan Chen is in the movie. Yuh-jung Youn is in the movie! Oscar winner Y. J.! It’s going to be a really fantastic movie.”

“The Wedding Banquet” will hit theaters in 2025 from Bleecker Street. Check out the first look photos below.