A match made in Hollywood heaven. Pair two great-looking actors and put them in a movie vehicle that will look to wow audiences. That’s probably how screenwriter Jon Sapihts pitched his story Passengers to studios before Sony Pictures won the bidding war in December 2014.
In what will surely be a highly anticipated Christmas release, Passengers, a sci-fi love story headlined by Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook, The Hunger Games) and in-demand actor Chris Pratt (Jurassic World, Guardians of the Galaxy), takes place on a spacecraft transporting thousands of people to a distant colony planet in suspended animation. Hibernation sleep is supposed to be for 120 years, but for Jim and Aurora (Pratt and Lawrence) they awaken thirty years into the trip. While they look to the cause of the malfunction a romance blooms as an impending catastrophe mounts.
Right from the start, the visuals for this $100 million feature look amazing. Morten Tyldum, who previously helmed the Oscar-nominated The Imitation Game, directs the Sony Pictures tentpole. Working with cinematographer Rodrigo Pietro is another plus as Pietro has lensed some incredible films (Brokeback Mountain, Argo, and Martin Scorsese’s upcoming film Silence).
After a rocky first half with misfires like The 5th Wave, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and this summer’s Ghostbusters, Sony Pictures will look to get back on track this fall with The Magnificent Seven (Watch Chris Pratt sing the original’s theme song!), Tom Hanks in Inferno, Ang Lee’s adaptation of Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, with Passengers closing out the year when it opens on December 21.
