Warner Bros. has offered a first look at The Great Beyond, its sci-fi/fantasy film from J.J. Abrams, which marks his first as director since 2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
“I love franchises, but felt like I needed to get back to telling original stories,” the director said onstage Tuesday at CinemaCon.
Starring Glen Powell and Jenna Ortega, The Great Beyond has been a mystery since it was first announced, with its logline kept under wraps, though we now know the film concerns a young newlywed couple struggling to survive against a supernatural entity.
The first look sets the tone as someone is typing H.G. Wells on an early-generation computer — “There is, though I do not not know how there there is, or how it may be, another world out of sight and sound.”
We hear in voice over that the couple is looking … for something more. “The world you think you know the limits of, you can’t even begin to fathom.” It seems they might find it.
Abrams directed the film from his own script, also producing alongside Tommy Gormley via Bad Robot. Slated for release on November 13, the pic’s cast also includes Emma Mackey, Sophie Okonedo, Merritt Wever, and Samuel L. Jackson.
The Great Beyond preview comes following the news that Abrams’ Bad Robot will be reducing its footprint, continuing to operate with a smaller in-house team out of New York, while closing its Los Angeles office. The company remains under its first-look film and TV deal at Warner Bros. at least through end of the year.
In film, the company’s next title up for release is David Robert Mitchell’s sci-fi thriller The End of Oak Street, starring Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor, which releases via Warners on August 14 and was also touted today in Vegas. Other upcoming projects include the animated Dr. Seuss adaptation Oh, The Places You’ll Go! and Presumed Innocent Season 2 at Apple.
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