After making one of our top 10 movies of 2024, the team behind Sing Sing is back with a 2025 new movie that is already generating plenty of buzz in Train Dreams.
One of the best-reviewed movies from the 2025 Sundance Film Festival (a lineup that also included Sorry, Baby, Together, Twinless and more), Train Dreams was acquired by Netflix. But as the streaming service has plans to make this one of their Oscar contenders this year, Train Dreams is going to be getting a release in movie theaters before it comes to streaming.
We’ve got all the details you need to know about that and more right here.
Train Dreams release date
Train Dreams is going to get a limited run in US movie theaters starting November 7. It’s unclear at this time how many theaters the movie will be made available in.
That exclusive run will last for two weeks, as Train Dreams then premieres on Netflix on November 21, where anyone with a Netflix subscription will be able to watch the movie.
Train Dreams cast
Joel Edgerton leads Train Dreams as the character Robert Grainier. This is actually Edgerton’s first movie since 2023’s The Boys in the Boat, though he did star in the Apple TV Plus series Dark Matter in 2024.
Starring opposite Edgerton as Robert’s wife Gladys in the movie is Felicity Jones, who is coming off an Oscar nomination for The Brutalist, her second career Oscar nomination (the other being for The Theory of Everything).
Also starring in Train Dreams are Kerry Condon (F1, The Banshees of Inisherin), William H. Macy (Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Shameless), Nathaniel Arcand (Sinners), Alfred Hsing (The Book of Boba Fett) and Will Patton (Outer Range), who serves as the narrator.
Train Dreams plot
Based on the novella of the same name by Denis Johnson, and adapted into a script by Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar, here is the description of Train Dreams from Netflix:
“Train Dreams is the moving portrait of Robert Grainier, whose life unfolds during an era of unprecedented change in early 20th-century America. Orphaned at a young age, Robert grows into adulthood among the towering forests of the Pacific Northwest, where he helps expand the nation’s railroad empire alongside men as unforgettable as the landscapes they inhabit. After a tender courtship, he marries Gladys and they build a home together, though his work often takes him far from her and their young daughter. When his life takes an unexpected turn, Robert finds beauty, brutality, and newfound meaning for the forests and trees he has felled.
“An ode to a vanishing way of life, an ever-evolving world, and to the extraordinary possibilities that exist within even the most simple of existences, Train Dreams captures a time and place that are now long gone, and the people who built a bridge to a future they could only dream of.”
Train Dreams trailer
Netflix has released a teaser trailer for Train Dreams. Watch it directly below:
Train Dreams reviews
After premiering at the Sundance Film Festival, Train Dreams has amassed a number of reviews, leading to a strong “Fresh” score of 97% on Rotten Tomatoes as of July 25.
Train Dreams director
Clint Bentley, in addition to co-writing the script, directs Train Dreams. This is Bentley’s second feature as a director. He previously directed the 2021 movie Jockey.
Train Dreams behind the scenes
While Netflix is the distributor of Train Dreams, the movie was a production by Black Bear and Kamala Films. Producers for the movie are Marissa McMahon, Teddy Schwarzman, William Janowitz, Ashley Schlaifer and Michael Heimler.
