The newly-released teaser for Jackson's epic new saga gives a glimpse of a dystopian steampunk world, where mobile cities battle each other over the world's few remaining resources.
- December 19, 2017
AceShowbiz -
Debuting before "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" over the weekend, the first teaser trailer for Universal's Peter Jackson-produced "Mortal Engines" is now available to watch online. The approximately one-and-a-half-minute video gives a glimpse of a dystopian steampunk world, where mobile cities battle each other over the world's few remaining resources.
The trailer focuses on an outlaw named Hester Shaw, played by newcomer Hera Hilmar, running for her life from a giant, mobile steampunk city. She is not alone, though, as a bunch of what look like poor people band together in small towns-on-wheels of their own to run away from the monstrous mobile city.
"What is that?" one character asks Shaw. "That is London," replies the outlaw, as the city of London can be seen swallowing their much-smaller mining town.
A New Zealand-American sci-fi action adventure film, "Mortal Engines" is based on the novel of the same name by Philip Reeve. Peter Jackson provides the screenplay along with Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh, with Christian Rivers serving behind the lens. Rivers is a New Zealand storyboard artist, who storyboarded all of Jackson's films since "Braindead".
"Mortal Engines" is set in a future world devastated ecologically and technologically and where certain cities such as London are run on engines and mobility, giving them the ability to prey on others for resources. The story centers on a teen named Tom Natsworthy who, along with a young woman from a territory known as the Outlands, uncovers a mystery that could change the world order.
The male lead is Tom Natsworthy, who is portrayed by Robert Sheehan, though he's not featured in the above teaser trailer. Other characters include Head of the Guild of Historians Thaddeus Valentine, played by Hugo Weaving, Thaddeus' daughter Katherine who is also one of London's elites, played by Leila George, the Mayor of London Magnus Crome, played by Patrick Malahide, and Shrike, played by Stephen Lang.
The film is set to hit theaters across the nation on December 14 next year.
