TRAILERS
Teaser Trailer for the 'Mortal Engines' Movie Produced by Peter Jackson
by Alex Billington
December 18, 2017
Source: YouTube
"What is that?!" "That… is London." Universal has revealed the first teaser trailer for a big sci-fi adaptation called Mortal Engines, based on a popular book series. This adaptation has been in the works for years, in development by Peter Jackson and the LOTR/Hobbit team. For a long time, Jackson considered directing and was developing it that way, but he eventually handed it over to a VFX supervisor at Weta to making his directorial debut. Now we get a first look at footage from the teaser and it's impressive. Mortal Engines is about a post-apocalyptic future where gigantic moving cities roam the Earth (and battle each other). The fantastically eccentric ensemble cast includes Hugo Weaving, Hera Hilmar, Robert Sheehan, Jihae, Ronan Raftery, Leila George, Patrick Malahide, and Stephen Lang. This actually looks pretty dang cool, no thanks to amazing VFX from Weta. Looking forward to seeing more footage next year. Take a look.
Here's the first teaser trailer (+ poster) for Christian Rivers' Mortal Engines, direct from YouTube:
Thousands of years after civilization was destroyed by a cataclysmic event, humankind has adapted and a new way of living has evolved. Gigantic moving cities now roam the Earth, ruthlessly preying upon smaller traction towns. Tom Natsworthy (Robert Sheehan)—who hails from a Lower Tier of the great traction city of London—finds himself fighting for his own survival after he encounters the dangerous fugitive Hester Shaw (Hera Hilmar). Two opposites, whose paths should never have crossed, forge an unlikely alliance that is destined to change the course of the future. Mortal Engines is directed by Kiwi filmmaker Christian Rivers, a former VFX supervisor and storyboard artist from Weta now making his feature directorial debut. The screenplay is written by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and Peter Jackson (of The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings) adapted from Philip Reeve's book series of the same name. Universal will release Mortal Engines in theaters everywhere starting December 14th, 2018 next year. Initial thoughts?
26 Comments
1
It's kind of a stupid concept... Anyone a fan of the book series?
THE_RAW_ on Dec 18, 2017
3
I don't understand why you'd have giant mobile cities. I'm all about suspending disbelief for a scifi movie...but...this borders on the ridiculous to me. Tarek have you read the book series?
THE_RAW_ on Dec 18, 2017
4
Nope. I didn't. As for why moving cities, I believe/hope there is a solid motivation behind it. Maybe because a static city is prone to be predated in this "post apocalyptic" era. So it should keep moving. Maybe it's because of some cataclysmic risk that oblige them to keep moving. If they pay me well, I'll find them a good reason. ;D
tarek on Dec 18, 2017
5
From Wikipedia: The book is set in a post-apocalyptic world, ravaged by a "Sixty Minute War", which caused massive geological upheaval. To escape the earthquakes, volcanoes, and other instabilities, a Nomad leader called Nikola Quercus installed huge engines and wheels on London, and enabled it to dismantle (or eat) other cities for resources. The technology rapidly spread, and evolved into what is known as "Municipal Darwinism". Although the planet has since become stable, Municipal Darwinism has spread to most of the world except for Asia and parts of Africa. Much technological and scientific knowledge was lost during the war. Because scientific progress has almost completely halted, "Old Tech" is highly prized and recovered by scavengers and archaeologists. Europe, some of Asia, North Africa, Antarctica, and the Arctic are dominated by Traction Cities, whereas North America was so ravaged by the war that it is often identified as "the dead continent", and the rest of the world is the stronghold of the Anti-Traction League, which seeks to keep cities from moving and thus stop the intense consumption of the planet's remaining resources.
Fox on Dec 18, 2017
6
Makes sense somehow. I liked better the idea developped by Christopher Priest in The Inverted World. A City and its residents moves continually in slow motion because they have to reach some optimal point that has to do with time. I read the book before the fall of Berlin Wall, so I have only a vague memory of the plot. It wasn't an easy read. ;D
tarek on Dec 19, 2017
7
That's insane...and actually kind of intriguing. LOL Color me curious at this point.
THE_RAW_ on Dec 27, 2017
8
who cares, it's something different.
CyraNOSE on Dec 19, 2017
10
What about EMP's man?!? WHAT ABOUT THEM EMP'S?!!!!!
THE_RAW_ on Dec 19, 2017
11
Looks cool.
CyraNOSE on Dec 18, 2017
12
Christ, you serious? Boring as hell.
boball on Dec 18, 2017
13
Watch you're blasphemy scumbag!! What would you prefer, more gay stuff?
CyraNOSE on Dec 19, 2017
14
Peter Jackson seems to always pick interesting stuff to work on.
DAVIDPD on Dec 18, 2017
15
Interested for sure.
Lewis on Dec 18, 2017
16
Howl's moving cities. he he he. Engineers will be having a field day with this.
Carpola on Dec 18, 2017
17
I want to see Toronto use the CN tower to joust with London.
Dan Hibiki on Dec 18, 2017
18
I'm not sure where I stand on this one. Interesting concept, but it's going to be awfully tough to sell this visually I think. It's Jackson, so anything;s possible.
Mark on Dec 18, 2017
19
good summary. Different premise, PJ & Weta involved... but it's YA-market source material...
VAharleywitch on Dec 19, 2017
20
Yeah, fascinating and everything. But mostly, another piece of junk fun coming from the industry ...
shiboleth on Dec 18, 2017
21
Well fuck...I'm in. Refreshing to see something relatively different than typical run of the mill. Imaginative.
Xerxexx on Dec 19, 2017
22
Well the idea is of course ultimately stupid, so how are they going to sell this? Love science fiction, but we also have laws of nature... I see a epic failure coming!
ari smulders on Dec 19, 2017
23
Looks like more YA bullshit. I'm probably gonna have to pass on this one.
RPD on Dec 19, 2017
24
It's not at all logical, but it can have vision a good plot devices. Need more trailer to convince me to see it at the cinema. xD
oliveitor on Dec 19, 2017
25
looks interesting. i'll give it a try next year.
John Wayne Cleaver on Dec 22, 2017
26
What a ridiculous premise. First ''Snowpiercer'', now this? With such a huge amount of good stories, why would somebody ever make a film adaptation of this?
indiescifi451.com on Dec 25, 2017
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