With only a few weeks left in 2016, audiences still have a number of high-profile blockbusters and awards contenders to look forward to. Aside from obvious titles like Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Assassin's Creed, one of the more interesting sci-fi films of the year still yet to be released is Passengers. Bringing together two of the biggest movie stars in the world as its leads with Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence, with a prime end-of-year release date, and it has been one of the most promising original films of the year ever since it was originally announced.
Based on Jon Spaihts' script, which floated around for a number of years in the entertainment industry before Lawrence and Pratt signed on, the film also marks the latest effort from director Morten Tyldum, following his award-nominated work on The Imitation Game in 2014. Following the story of two passengers onboard a spaceship journeying to a newly colonized planet who wake up early with 90 years left to go until the ship's arrival, the trailers for the film have so far made it out to be an action-packed, and refreshingly straightforward love story.
In anticipation of the film's late December release date as well, a brand new clip from the film has been released, giving us a new look at the first date between Lawrence's Aurora Lane and Pratt's James Preston. Judging by the generally light and carefree nature of the clip, it seems fair to say that the date will be taking place before anything truly worrying starts to go wrong on their ship, like all of the previous trailers have teased.
On paper, you couldn't ask for a more box office-friendly actor and actress pairing to be leading your film than Lawrence and Pratt. In addition to receiving critical acclaim for their performances in both large, tentpole films and small independent dramas over the past few years, they've both gradually become two of the biggest movie stars in the world, with Lawrence herself being an Academy Award winner, and Pratt currently starring as the lead actor in a number of high-profile franchises.
Right now, it seems like the biggest question is whether or not Passengers will manage to be both an awards-contender and successful Holiday season blockbuster, or just the latter, but it'll be interesting to see just how well the film ends up doing. With Tyldum coming off of some serious awards attention with his previous film, and Lawrence being a seemingly non-stop presence at the awards shows every year, it's possible Passengers could be one of the most versatile films of the year.
Source: Columbia Pictures
