Passengers: Following Gravity, Interstellar and The Martian, what you need to know about this year's big space movie

Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt starrer sounds quite promising

The last three years have seen as many films set in space that have gone down well with audiences, critics and awards voters alike.

In 2013 it was Gravity, in 2014 everyone was talking about Interstellar, and in 2015 (to a lesser extent) The Martian was the big space film, but what will it be in 2016?

The answer, at least in terms of box office impact, is Passengers.

So what’s it about?

‘A spacecraft traveling to a distant colony planet and transporting thousands of people has a malfunction in one of its sleep chambers. As a result, a single passenger is awakened 60 years early. Faced with the prospect of growing old and dying alone, he eventually decides to wake up a second passenger.’

Who’s in it?

Probably the two most popular actors in Hollywood right now - Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt.

The former has carried a film mostly revolving around just two characters very well before (Silver Linings Playbook), while Pratt has US astronaut written all over him.

Laurence Fishburne and Michael Sheen are in supporting roles, but in the current script at least 80% of the movie is centred on Lawrence and Pratt.

Sounds promising, who’s behind the camera?

Morten Tyldum. He might not be a household name like Ridley Scott (The Martian) and Christopher Nolan (Interstellar) but his career is definitely on the ascent, his last two films having been The Headhunters (2011) and the Oscar-nominated Imitation Game (2014).

The film’s Director of Photography is Rodrigo Prieto, a hugely talented Mexican cinematographer who was behind Brokeback Mountain, Babel, Argo and The Wolf of Wall Street and is currently working on Martin Scorsese’s new film, Silence.

Any trailers or images?

Not yet, but the screenplay from Jon Spaihts has been doing the rounds since 2007. You can read it here.

When can we expect it?

21 December, 2016, just in time for awards season…