# Upgrade (film)
**Upgrade** is a 2018 cyberpunk action-thriller film written and directed by [Leigh Whannell](https://www.edgepedia.org/leigh-whannell), starring [Logan Marshall-Green](https://www.edgepedia.org/logan-marshall-green) as Grey Trace, a technophobe who is left paralyzed and widowed in a brutal mugging and receives an experimental artificial intelligence implant called STEM that restores his mobility and grants him superhuman physical abilities, which he uses to hunt his wife's killers.[1](https://www.universalpicturesathome.com/movies/upgrade) Made on a reported budget of $3 million, it earned $16.7 million worldwide and became a cult favorite.[2](https://movie.guru/upgrade-movie-review) • [3](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt6499752/) • [18](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6499752/news/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director/writer | Leigh Whannell, previously the writer of *Saw* and *Insidious* and director of *Insidious 3* (2015)[5](https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/01/leigh-wannell-upgrade-interview/) |
| Starring | Logan Marshall-Green, Betty Gabriel, Harrison Gilbertson[1](https://www.universalpicturesathome.com/movies/upgrade) |
| Release | Premiered at SXSW on 10 March 2018; US theatrical release 1 June 2018 on 1,500 screens via Blumhouse's BH Tilt label in partnership with Neon[6](https://pradt.co/upgrade) • [7](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-upgrade-leigh-whannell-20180601-story.html) |
| Box office | $16,706,680 worldwide ($11,977,130 domestic, 71.7%) against a reported $3 million budget[3](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt6499752/) • [2](https://movie.guru/upgrade-movie-review) |
| Reception | 88% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer; Metascore 67 ("Generally Favorable"), with 26 positive and 7 mixed reviews and none negative; IMDb 7.5/10[8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/upgrade_2018) • [9](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/upgrade/critic-reviews/) • [2](https://movie.guru/upgrade-movie-review) |
| Rating and runtime | R (strong violence, grisly images, and language); 1 hour 40 minutes[1](https://www.universalpicturesathome.com/movies/upgrade) |
| Production | Blumhouse Productions, Goalpost Pictures, Nervous Tick Productions, Film Victoria, Automatik; shot in Melbourne, Australia[2](https://movie.guru/upgrade-movie-review) • [10](https://www.ausfilm.com.au/news/future-noir-inside-the-making-of-upgrade/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and premise
The film is set in a near future in which technology controls nearly all aspects of life, from driverless cars to crime surveillance.[3](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt6499752/) Grey Trace, a vintage car customizer who considers himself a technophobe, and his wife Asha (Melanie Vallejo) are ambushed after their self-driving car is electronically hijacked; Asha is killed and Grey is left a quadriplegic.[11](https://www.tributemovies.com/movie/upgrade/72829/) When police have no leads three months later, billionaire technologist Eron (Harrison Gilbertson) offers Grey an experimental cure: a computer chip implant called STEM, surgically installed in his spine, that lets him walk again.[11](https://www.tributemovies.com/movie/upgrade/72829/) • [1](https://www.universalpicturesathome.com/movies/upgrade)
STEM, voiced by Simon Maiden, has a voice and a mind of its own, and it can take over Grey's body to fight with superhuman strength and agility.[11](https://www.tributemovies.com/movie/upgrade/72829/) • [12](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/upgrade-2018) The plot runs on a revenge armature but nests inside it a conspiracy mystery about the attack and a deeper question of STEM's own intentions; the ending pivots from vigilante triumph to horror as STEM assumes full command of Grey's body and mind.[13](https://sightlines.media/film/500664/upgrade-2018)
### Sequel plans
On 16 August 2018, producer [Jason Blum](https://www.edgepedia.org/jason-blum) said on Twitter that plans existed for a potential sequel.[16](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6499752/faq/) Whannell himself said before release that the film was not written with a sequel in mind and that planning one would assume a success he was not ready to count on.[5](https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/01/leigh-wannell-upgrade-interview/) In May 2020, Blumhouse Television and UCP announced a TV series follow-up with Whannell as co-creator and director, *Treadstone*'s Tim Walsh as co-creator and showrunner, and a premise that picks up a few years after the film with an evolved version of STEM given a new host as the government repurposes the chip to curb criminal activity.[17](https://www.thewrap.com/upgrade-sequel-tv-series-leigh-whannell/) The series never materialized: Whannell later confirmed the franchise plans were no longer happening, and Walsh said the show, which he compared in approach to a [Stanley Kubrick](https://www.edgepedia.org/stanley-kubrick) classic, was killed after a change in leadership at Peacock, to which he and Whannell had sold it in 2019.[4](https://www.imdb.com/news/ni65082074/) • [18](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6499752/news/)
## Production
Whannell shot the film in his hometown of Melbourne, with filming starting in March 2017 and lasting 30 days, including sets built at Docklands Studios Melbourne.[14](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6499752/trivia/) • [10](https://www.ausfilm.com.au/news/future-noir-inside-the-making-of-upgrade/) The production was supported by the Victorian Government through Film Victoria's Production Incentive Attraction Fund, and was produced by [Blumhouse Productions](https://www.edgepedia.org/blumhouse-productions) and Goalpost Pictures.[10](https://www.ausfilm.com.au/news/future-noir-inside-the-making-of-upgrade/) Production designer Felicity Abbott described the visual approach as a world "just around the corner," an enhanced view of current technologies rather than a departure from life as we know it; Whannell called the film "future noir," mixing science fiction, horror, action, and comedic elements.[10](https://www.ausfilm.com.au/news/future-noir-inside-the-making-of-upgrade/)
**Low-budget craft.** Whannell bartered scene by scene to keep key material as producers adjusted the budget, fighting in particular to keep helicopter shots.[7](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-upgrade-leigh-whannell-20180601-story.html) The film's technology is largely camera rigging, stunt engineering, and edit discipline dressed as science fiction.[13](https://sightlines.media/film/500664/upgrade-2018) During fight scenes the camera tracks Grey so that his torso stays upright in frame; according to Whannell, this was achieved by hiding a phone on actor Logan Marshall-Green and using its gyro and accelerometer to control the camera's roll position.[14](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6499752/trivia/) The crew included cinematographer Stefan Duscio, editor Andy Canny, and composer Jed Palmer, whose synth score earned an AACTA Award nomination.[2](https://movie.guru/upgrade-movie-review) • [15](https://my.romacinemafest.org/media/12212/the-royal-hotel-press-kit_final.pdf)
## Release and reception
After its SXSW premiere on 10 March 2018, the film opened in the United States on 1 June 2018 (earliest release 31 May in New Zealand) through BH Tilt, Blumhouse's microbudget genre distribution arm, which Whannell described as an alternative to a standard 3,000-screen Universal release or a minimal digital rollout.[6](https://pradt.co/upgrade) • [3](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt6499752/) • [7](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-upgrade-leigh-whannell-20180601-story.html) It grossed $4,670,905 domestically in its opening and finished with $16,706,680 worldwide, about 5.5 times its reported budget.[3](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt6499752/) • [2](https://movie.guru/upgrade-movie-review)
Critics received it favorably. The Tomatometer stood at 88% from 190 reviews, and the Metacritic Metascore of 67 reflected 26 positive and 7 mixed reviews with none negative.[8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/upgrade_2018) • [9](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/upgrade/critic-reviews/) [The A.V. Club](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-a-v-club)'s Katie Rife called it Whannell's first truly original concept as a writer-director, with production ambitious enough to compensate for a formulaic story.[9](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/upgrade/critic-reviews/) RogerEbert.com's Simon Abrams called it "B-movie schlock done right," praising its violence and STEM as a devil-on-your-shoulder voice in Grey's head, while judging its larger ideas about humanity's relationship with technology underdeveloped.[12](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/upgrade-2018) Audiences scored it 7.5/10 on IMDb and 88% on Rotten Tomatoes' Popcornmeter.[2](https://movie.guru/upgrade-movie-review) • [8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/upgrade_2018) A 2-disc 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray edition with Whannell's audio commentary was released on 4 July 2023.[6](https://pradt.co/upgrade)
## Genre standing
Commentators classify *Upgrade* as a hybrid of cyberpunk concerns (implants, corporations, automation, the boundary between human and machine), body horror in its physicality, and vigilante action in its plot engine.[13](https://sightlines.media/film/500664/upgrade-2018) Its near future is a modest extrapolation of 2018-era smart homes and self-driving cars rather than a distant one, which contributes to its unease, and the film has since been read as anticipating anxieties about ceding decisions to algorithms.[13](https://sightlines.media/film/500664/upgrade-2018) Though set in a placeless American-style future, it is materially an Australian production, part of a tradition of resourceful Australian genre filmmaking executed on modest budgets for international audiences.[13](https://sightlines.media/film/500664/upgrade-2018)
## References
1. [Upgrade, Universal Pictures At Home](https://www.universalpicturesathome.com/movies/upgrade)
2. [Upgrade, movie.guru](https://movie.guru/upgrade-movie-review)
3. [Upgrade (2018), Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt6499752/)
4. [Sci-Fi Action Hit 'Upgrade' Gets Disappointing Sequel Update From Leigh Whannell, IMDb News / MovieWeb](https://www.imdb.com/news/ni65082074/)
5. ['Upgrade' director Leigh Whannell talks low-budget worldbuilding, TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/01/leigh-wannell-upgrade-interview/)
6. [UPGRADE, PRADT](https://pradt.co/upgrade)
7. ['Upgrade' director Leigh Whannell brings sci-fi action thrills to our tech-obsessed times, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-upgrade-leigh-whannell-20180601-story.html)
8. [Upgrade (2018), Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/upgrade_2018)
9. [Upgrade critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/upgrade/critic-reviews/)
10. [Future Noir: Behind the Curtain of Leigh Whannell's Upgrade, Ausfilm](https://www.ausfilm.com.au/news/future-noir-inside-the-making-of-upgrade/)
11. [Upgrade (2018) Movie Plot and Synopsis, Tribute Movies](https://www.tributemovies.com/movie/upgrade/72829/)
12. [Upgrade movie review & film summary, RogerEbert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/upgrade-2018)
13. [Upgrade (2018), dir. Leigh Whannell, Sightlines](https://sightlines.media/film/500664/upgrade-2018)
14. [Upgrade (2018) Trivia, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6499752/trivia/)
15. [The Royal Hotel press kit (Jed Palmer biography), Romain Cannes](https://my.romacinemafest.org/media/12212/the-royal-hotel-press-kit_final.pdf)
16. [Upgrade (2018) FAQ, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6499752/faq/)
17. [Leigh Whannell to Direct 'Upgrade' Sequel Series in the Works at UCP, TheWrap](https://www.thewrap.com/upgrade-sequel-tv-series-leigh-whannell/)
18. [Upgrade (2018) News, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6499752/news/)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Science fiction and fantasy films (individual works) › Science fiction and fantasy films of the 2010s › Science fiction films of the 2010s › Titles J to Z*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license