Cloud Atlas helped to restore the faith in filmmakers Andy and Lana Wachowski (among those few who saw it, anyway...), and so there's more excitement for their upcoming project, Jupiter Ascending, an original piece of science-fiction that will harken back to their Matrix trilogy - by combining cutting-edge effects, action and spectacle with an imaginative mythos and philosophical overtones.

Principal photography began earlier this month, at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in London, but we've just today received a press release that formally announces the start of filming, in addition to a synopsis that confirms (some of) the intriguing details from the Wachowskis' script that we've reported in the past.

Here is the synopsis for Jupiter Ascending:

From the streets of Chicago to far flung galaxies whirling through space, Jupiter Ascending was conceived and written by the Wachowskis, who are also directing. Award-winning producer Grant Hill, with whom the writer/directors have collaborated since "The Matrix" Trilogy, is producing the film together with the Wachowskis. Roberto Malerba and Bruce Berman are serving as executive producers.

Jupiter Jones (Mila Kunis) was born under a night sky, with signs predicting that she was destined for great things. Now grown, Jupiter dreams of the stars but wakes up to the cold reality of a job cleaning toilets and an endless run of bad breaks. Only when Caine (Channing Tatum), a genetically engineered ex-military hunter, arrives on Earth to track her down does Jupiter begin to glimpse the fate that has been waiting for her all along - her genetic signature marks her as next in line for an extraordinary inheritance that could alter the balance of the cosmos.

This information falls is line with previous descriptions, which pegged Kunis as the Snow White figure to Tatum's genetically-altered huntsman, who is hired by a higher-evolved being known as the Queen of the Universe (e.g. the "Evil Queen") to murder the human woman (Miss Jones) who threatens to end her reign.

Mila Kunis stars in Jupiter Ascending
Mila Kunis stars in 'Jupiter Ascending'

The Wachowskis established trends in both the sci-fi and action genres, back when The Matrix broke new technical and creative ground in 1999. As was brought up during last week's Screen Rant Underground Podcast, that influence should continue with this summer's Superman movie reboot Man of Steel (drawing from the Neo/Smith battle in The Matrix Revolutions); not to mention, similarities between the futuristic segments of Cloud Atlas and director M. Night Shyamalan's upcoming post-apocalyptic blockbuster After Earth, which goes to show that the filmmaking siblings remain ahead of the curve.

Rounding out the Jupiter Ascending cast are Sean Bean (Game of Thrones), Eddie Redmayne (Les Misérables), Doona Bae (Cloud Atlas), Douglas Booth (Romeo and Juliet), Tuppence Middleton (Trance), Tim Pigott-Smith (The Hour) and James D'Arcy (another Cloud Atlas alum).

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Look for Jupiter Ascending in 2D, 3D and IMAX theaters on July 25th, 2014.

Source: Warner Bros.