Jupiter Ascending May Be Delayed, But This New Trailer Is Still Gorgeous

By David Wharton | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

It remains to be seen whether Jupiter Ascending’s delay until February will prove to be a good thing or a bad thing for the Wachowskis’ latest. If nothing else it will be up against less competition. It was originally slated for July 18, which would have put it up against Jason Segel and Cameron Diaz’s comedy Sex Tape, The Purge: Anarchy, Planes: Fire & Rescue, and the second week of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, which I’m betting is still going to take a significant bite out of that weekend’s box office. On its new home of February 6, it doesn’t currently have anything officially slated against it yet. On the one hand, February is where studios send movies to die, but on the other hand, there’s a chance it might actually gain more attention outside of the summer glut. Especially if it keeps putting out trailers as stunning as the one above.

The Wachowskis’ last film, Cloud Atlas, had a reported production budget of $102 million and found financing thanks to a mixture of the Wachowskis’ own money, backing from Asian investors, the German government, and Warner Bros., which paid $15 million for domestic rights. The adaptation of David Mitchell’s sprawling, thought-unfilmable novel divided moviegoers and only managed to bring in $27 million in U.S. box office, with the global release raising the tally to $130 million. It’s genuinely surprising to see the Wachowskis managing to mount yet another epic mega-budget film, this time with a reported budget of $175 million. I have no idea how they’re pulling it off, but I’m okay with it. I’ll happily take an ambitious Wachowskis flick, even if it doesn’t entirely work, over, say, a Michael Bay Transformers movie, just to pull something entirely random out of the air.

Jupiter Ascending stars Mila Kunis as a cleaning lady unaware she has a remarkable genetic makeup that could destine her for great and mighty things beyond the scrubbing of toilets. Channing Tatum is a genetically enhanced soldier tasked with protecting her, Eddie Redmayne as nasty alien royal who wants her dead, and Sean Bean as a “Han Solo type” who will almost certainly wind up dead. You can check out screen caps of some of the new trailer’s more gorgeous/cool/intriguing moments below. If nothing else, this thing is going to be a goldmine for desktop wallpaper.

Gollum

One thing I noticed in this one that I hadn’t spotted in the earlier trailers. These Gollum-looking critters above, which Tatum’s character is shown fighting in the hospital room? I think they’re actually the same people as the medical staff that’s about to kill Kunis’ Jupiter Jones. If you look carefully, Tatum’s Caine somersaults into the room and blasts the doctors, which seem to then collapse inside their scrubs and out pop these little buggers. Shapeshifters or some other sort of camouflage? Either way, I’m betting my insurance doesn’t cover them.

Jupiter Ascending hits theaters on February 6, 2015.