distant – Movie Smack Talk

If you were looking forward to watching DreamWorks Pictures’ sci-fi movie ‘Distant‘ in March of 2022, well, we have some bad news for you.

Universal just announced they are moving the release date to September 16, 2022. So they’re pushing it back a solid six months.

The pic directed by Josh Gordon and Will Speck follows an asteroid miner Andy (Anthony Ramos) who, after crash-landing on an alien planet, must make his way across the harsh terrain, running out of oxygen, hunted by strange creatures, to the only other survivor. His AI survival suit (voiced by Zachary Quinto, Star Trek films) isn’t helping either. Andy discovers a fellow crewmember, Naomi (Naomi Scott), however, she too is trapped inside her escape pod and he may not have enough oxygen to make it to her.

Not exactly sure why the release was pushed back. It could be that they received some poor reactions from test screenings and need time to fix things up. That does happen occasionally.

Or it could be something simple. Perhaps the studio believes the film will perform better in September than March. Maybe there will be less competition? It’s possible, considering the flick was going up against Pixar’s latest creation, Turning Red, in March.

So yeah, maybe they didn’t want to be matched against Pixar. I know I wouldn’t want to be.

Naomi Scott had quite the breakout performance as Princess Jasmine in the 2019 live-action adaptation of Aladdin. The film wasn’t exactly a hit with the critics but it made over $1 billion at the box office, so we’d call that a huge success.

And now we are learning what Scott’s next project will be. According to reports, she’ll star alongside Hamilton’s Anthony Ramos in the upcoming comedic sci-fi film, Distant.

The film tells the story of an asteroid miner who, after crash-landing on an alien planet, must contend with the challenges of his new surroundings, while making his way across the harsh terrain to the only other survivor – a woman who is trapped in her escape pod.

Rachel Brosnahan (from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) was set to star in the film, but she had to pull out due to a scheduling conflict.

The directors behind ‘Blades of Gory‘ will direct the script, which was written by Spenser Cohen.

No word on a potential release date, but we’ll keep you posted.