2017 was a major year for Netflix, and that came along with more than a few articles wondering just exactly how Netflix's budget works, a question that remains difficult to explain clearly. Whatever their financial situation, 2017 saw them producing major works in the realm of movies (The Meyerowitz Stories, Okja, Strong Island, etc.) and TV (She's Gotta Have It, Dear White People, Godless, etc.). That's not even counting the surprising appetite for David Ayer's terrible Bright, or other delights like Joe Swanberg's Win It All or I don't feel at home in this world anymore. Expectations for  the streaming site in 2018 are extremely high at this point, and one of the first tests of its continued success will come with Duncan Jones' secretive sci-fi noir Mute, which will debut on February 23rd.

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Image via Universal Pictures

Though we've gotten a few images from the movie already, today brought our first momentary glance at the cast in action, including Paul Rudd and Alexander Skarsgaard. This is all in anticipation of the full trailer, which is set to arrive on 1/30, this coming Tuesday. The images of the movie that we've seen thus far look to be in the same vein as Blade Runner and other noir-tinged sci-fi films, but Jones has also said that Robert Altman and Paul Schrader are heavy influences on the narrative. If so, Mute will prove to be exactly the comeback that fans of the Moon director have anticipated in the aftermath of Warcraft. Fingers crossed, everybody.

Here's the trailer announcement for Mute:

Here's the official synopsis for Mute:

Berlin. Forty years from today. A roiling city of immigrants, where East crashes against West in a science-fiction Casablanca. Leo Beiler (Skarsgard), a mute bartender has one reason and one reason only for living here, and she’s disappeared. But when Leo’s search takes him deeper into the city’s underbelly, an odd pair of American surgeons (led by Rudd) seem to be the only recurring clue, and Leo can’t tell if they can help, or who he should fear most

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Image via Netflix
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Image via Netflix
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Image via Netflix