Taglines: Fear what’s inside.
A group of soldiers enters an environmental disaster zone and only one soldier (Oscar Isaac) comes back out alive, though he is grievously injured. In an attempt to save his life, his wife Lena (Natalie Portman), a biologist, volunteers for another expedition into the zone to figure out what happened to him.
Natalie Portman’s biologist is part of a team of four women – the Biologist (Natalie Portman), the Anthropologist (Gina Rodriguez), the Surveyor (Tessa Thompson), and, their group leader, the Psychologist (Jennifer Jason Leigh) – who are entering Area X to study what it has become and why it has become this way.
This group has trained together specifically for this mission, and have been given certain parameters (such as never using their real names and being limited in the technology that they can use) which are dictated but never fully explained in the book. The trailer seems to show five people entering into Area X, which may or may not be a reference to the Linguist in the book who chooses to turn back at the border of Area X. In the book, the Linguist is only mentioned in passing, but it is possible that the film has either chosen to expand her role or introduce a new team member.
As members of the twelfth expedition, the team knows that some (if not all) past expeditions have ended in strange and deadly ways. In one previous expedition, all members committed suicide. In another, expedition members all killed each other in a firefight after apparently going mad. In the eleventh expedition, the Biologist’s husband (Oscar Isaac) went into Area X with a team of all men.
The trailer includes shots of his character with the Biologist inter-cut with shots of the Biologist exploring Area X. In the trailer, Portman’s voice asks, “Why did my husband volunteer for a suicide mission?” Presumably, she is alluding to the fact that people who go into Area X usually don’t come back out and even if they do, they come back changed.
Annihilation is a 2018 science fiction psychological horror film written and directed by Alex Garland, based on the novel of the same name by Jeff VanderMeer. It stars Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson, Tuva Novotny, and Oscar Isaac. The story follows a group of scientists who enter “The Shimmer”, a mysterious quarantined zone of mutating plants and animals caused by an alien presence.
Annihilation was released theatrically in Canada and the United States by Paramount Pictures on February 23, 2018, and in China on April 13, 2018. Across the three countries, it grossed $43 million against a production budget between $40–55 million. It was released digitally by Netflix in a number of other countries on March 12, 2018. Annihilation grossed $32.7 million in the United States and Canada and $10.3 million in China, for a worldwide total of $43.1 million, against a production budget of $40–55 million. The film was branded one of the biggest theatrical box office bombs of 2018.
In North America, Annihilation was released alongside Game Night and Every Day, and was projected to gross $10–12 million from 2,012 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $3.9 million on its first day (including $900,000 from Thursday night previews at 1,850 theaters). It ended up making $11 million over the weekend, finishing fourth, behind Black Panther, Game Night and Peter Rabbit. In its second weekend the film dropped 49% to $5.9 million, falling to 6th place.
Annihilation (2018)
Directed by: Alex Garland
Starring: Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tessa Thompson, Oscar Isaac, Gina Rodriguez, Benedict Wong, Sonoya Mizuno, Tuva Novotny, Honey Holmes, Edward Mannering, Cosmo Jarvis
Screenplay by: Alex Garland
Production Design by: Mark Digby
Cinematography by: Rob Hardy
Film Editing by: Barney Pilling
Costume Design by: Sammy Sheldon
Set Decoration by: Michelle Day
Art Direction by: Gareth Cousins, Lauren Doss, Simon Elsley, Elaine Kusmishko, Denis Schnegg
Music by: Geoff Barrow, Ben Salisbury
MPAA Rating: R for violence, bloody images, language and some sexuality.
Distributed by: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: February 23, 2018
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