Two of Hollywood’s most in-demand actors will unite on screen the first time in Passengers. Today, Sony officially greenlit the romantic sci-fi drama, which stars Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt. Oscar nominee Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game) has been tagged to direct.
The film has actually been in the development for several years with various different actors and studios attached. At one point, it was a Weinstein Company project set to star Keanu Reeves and Reese Witherspoon. Rachel McAdams was also rumored as the female lead at one point.
After much back and forth with producers over the film’s cost, Sony agreed to a $150 million budget. Pratt, who is coming off the record-setting Jurassic World, will receive $12 million, while Lawrence is set to make $20 million.
The plot of Passengers revolves around a spacecraft that is transporting thousands of people to a distant colony planet. Due to a malfunction with one of the sleeping chambers, “a single passenger is awakened 90 years before anyone else. Faced with the prospect of growing old and dying alone, he eventually decides to wake up a second passenger.” One source told The Hollywood Reporter that Sony could present the film as “Gravity with romance.”
Production is set to begin in July
