Paramount Pictures has released the latest trailer for Annihilation, from Ex Machina writer/director Alex Garland. While the first teaser evoked the atmospheric creepiness of Jeff VanderMeer’s novel, this one leans more toward Jurassic Park.
For one, the overgrown Area X seems to have be renamed as “the Shimmer,” a rapidly expanding boundary that threatens to swallow up more of the real world if the source of its power is not discovered. And once the expedition (made up of Natalie Portman, Tessa Thompson, Gina Rodriguez, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Tuva Novotny) ventures inside, there seem to be a lot more mutated beasts—like that snarling skull creature—than in the novel, which has more of an emphasis on the insidious plant, not animal, life.
Obviously there are changes in any adaptation, and this trailer does still feature arresting shots of ivy, lichen, and all manner of consuming plants. We’ll have to see how Garland translated the first novel of VanderMeer’s Southern Reach Trilogy for the big screen. Watch the trailer and judge for yourself:
Annihilation comes to theaters February 23.
This looks really good. Enough of the novel(s) for me to be very excited.
It seems the whole story and motivations are reworked. The reason for ghost bird entering area x is altered. The reworking of the story for a more action oriented film is in cards. The whole idea of weirdness of facing the unknowable might get lost in such an approach
I’m almost always a BOOK IS BETTER gal, but in this case the book kinda fell flat for me, so for once I’m intrigued by the Hollywood treatment (I know, take my bibliophile card away!)
I found the first trailer encouraging but this second one has left me quite sceptical. As always, trailers show too much, and considering a lot of the book’s appeal is how subtly and suggestedly all the weirdness unfolds it’s not a good sign at all.
I agree with the fact that the first trailer looked so promising in the context of the book. the movie and the book can be two separate entities conveying different ideas and exploring new dimensions. the second trailer suggests that the book and the movie will be drastically different with just the central plot remains the same. for example the fact that ghost birds husband is alive and there are monsters running around in area x are kinda lower the impact of the story
I liked the first trailer so much I read the whole Southern Reach trilogy, but this trailer is incredibly disappointing in how divergent and spectacle-oriented it looks. Not weird, not surreal, not cerebral, just….Ripley. (And I like Ripley!)