Inheritance (2025 film)

Not to be confused with The Inheritance (2024 film) or Inheritance (2024 film).

Inheritance is a 2025 American spy thriller film directed by Neil Burger from a screenplay he co-wrote with Olen Steinhauer starring Phoebe Dynevor and Rhys Ifans. The film was released in theaters on January 24, 2025.

Inheritance
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Neil Burger
Screenplay by	Neil Burger Olen Steinhauer
Produced by	Neil Burger Bill Block Charles Miller
Starring	Phoebe Dynevor Rhys Ifans
Cinematography	Jackson Hunt
Edited by	Nick Carew
Music by	Paul Leonard-Morgan
Production companies	Miramax Nota Bene Productions
Distributed by	IFC Films
Release date	January 24, 2025 (2025-01-24)
Running time	101 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$318,090[1][2]

Premise

A young woman is drawn into an international conspiracy after discovering her father is a spy.^[3]

Cast

• Rhys Ifans as Sam
• Phoebe Dynevor as Maya
• Ciara Baxendale as Emily
• Kersti Bryan as Jess
• Daniel Joey Albright as US Customs Officer
• Mitchell Hochman as Bartender
• Majd Eid as Khalil Jamal
• Byron Clohessy as Doug
• Salim Siddiqui as Taxi Driver
• José Alvarez as Cashier

Production

The script was co-written by Neil Burger and Olen Steinhauer, with Burger directing. The film is produced by Bill Block and Charles Miller, alongside Burger.^[4] The film was developed from an idea that Burger had during the COVID-19 pandemic and is international in scope, but was filmed entirely on an iPhone. Burger has described using an "experimental style of shooting" in which there "was no wait time for camera set- ups, no makeup checks, or rehearsals. We’d arrive at the location and then immediately shoot as much as we could in the time that we had. It enabled us to travel with a small crew".^[5]

The cast includes Phoebe Dynevor, Rhys Ifans, Ciara Baxendale and Kersti Bryan and also includes Daniel Joey Albright, Mitchell Hochman, Majd Eid, Byron Clohessy, Salim Siddiqui and José Alvarez.^[6]

Principal photography took place in New York City, Delhi, Seoul and Cairo in mid-2022.^[7]

Release

The film was released in the United States on January 24, 2025.^[8] It made $124,817 in its opening weekend.^[9]

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 54% of 46 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.7/10. The website's consensus reads: "A globetrotting thriller shot guerilla style, Inheritance is watchable enough but proves more interesting for how it was made than what winds up on the screen."^[10] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 55 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.^[11]