The first images from one of the year’s most anticipated films have arrived. Passengers is an original sci-fi story from Prometheus screenwriter Jon Spaihts that has been floating around Hollywood for a few years now with great enthusiasm. While the project had some fits and starts (one version was to have starred Keanu Reeves), it finally gained the momentum needed to make it a reality when The Imitation Game director Morten Tyldum—fresh off a Best Director nomination—signed on to take the helm. Shortly thereafter, he enlisted two of the biggest actors working today to star: Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt.

The film takes place on a luxury spaceship bound for a human colony that’s 120 years away. Given the length of the journey, the 5,000 passengers are put into hypersleep, but when two of the passengers are mysteriously awakened 90 years too early, they strike up a relationship and quickly become the ship’s only hope of recovering from a serious malfunction.


Speaking with EW, which debuted the images, Tyldum explained that while the film may be epic in scope, it’s specific and intimate in focus:

“It’s one of those stories that really grabs you and you fall in love with it. It’s very smart and funny and clever and such a page turner I couldn’t put it down. Every 10 pages, something new happens! At the same time it’s a very intimate movie while taking place on this epic scale. For me, it’s a story about what’s important to live a full life. What are the things we need as humans? It’s not afraid to entertain but at the same time it asks big questions about what does it mean to really feel happy. Every generation has its love story. I feel like this is it. I had to do it.”

Given that Pratt and Lawrence are the only two characters on screen for a majority of the film’s runtime, much was required of the duo by way of emotion and intensity. But one imagines these two professionals were more than capable of nailing this thing, and with these debut images hitting today, hopefully we’ll get a look at the first trailer soon.

For now, check out the images below. Passengers opens in theaters on December 21st and also stars Michael Sheen, Laurence Fishburne, and Aurora Perrineau.

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Image via Sony Pictures

passengers-chris-pratt-jennifer-lawrence
Image via Sony Pictures

Here's the official synopsis for Passengers:

On a routine journey through space to a new home, two passengers, sleeping in suspended animation, are awakened 90 years too early when their ship malfunctions. As Jim (Chris Pratt) and Aurora (Jennifer Lawrence) face living the rest of their lives on board, with every luxury they could ever ask for, they begin to fall for each other, unable to deny their intense attraction... until they discover the ship is in grave danger. With the lives of 5000 sleeping passengers at stake, only Jim and Aurora can save them all.