Science fiction not only aspires to tell stories that predict the future and the moral lessons that come from an uncertain path, but much of science fiction is also inspired by the current climate of culture. After movies like The Creator from Gareth Edwards, we may be seeing an influx of AI-related stories. The upcoming Atlas from Netflix has Jennifer Lopez fighting her own war in an exo suit that is run by an AI program that Lopez must trust in order to survive. The new trailer has now premiered online courtesy of Netflix.

The official plot synopsis from Netflix reads,
“Atlas Shepherd (Jennifer Lopez), a brilliant but misanthropic data analyst with a deep distrust of artificial intelligence, joins a mission to capture a renegade robot with whom she shares a mysterious past. But when plans go awry, her only hope of saving the future of humanity from AI is to trust it.” The film sports an impressive cast to join Lopez, including Simu Liu, Sterling K. Brown, Gregory James Cohan, Abraham Popoola, Lana Parrilla and Mark Strong.

The new AI-themed sci-fi film comes from scribes Leo Sardarian and Aron Eli Coleite. Sitting in the director’s chair is Brad Peyton, who previously worked on blockbusters with Dwayne Johnson when he helmed San Andreas and Rampage. Producers on Atlas include Brad Peyton and Jeff Fierson for ASAP Entertainment; Joby Harold and Tory Tunnell for Safehouse Pictures; Jennifer Lopez, Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, and Benny Medina for Nuyorican Productions; and Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter for Berlanti/Schechter Films. Samson Mücke and Michael Riley McGrath are on board as executive producers.

Atlas is set to touch down on May 24.

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Jennifer Lopez has had a bit of a career resurgence lately. While the actress-turned-singer had been dabbling back in movies with an acclaimed performance in Hustlers, she’s also been in films like The Mother for Netflix and Shotgun Wedding for Amazon. Recently, J. Lo has had a dual feature film release about self-reflection and self-discovery through her music with the movies This is Me…Now and The Greatest Love Story Never Told, which are both available on Prime Video. You may have also recently caught her and her hubby, Ben Affleck, dropping a Dunkin’ rap jingle in a recent Super Bowl ad. Netflix has now released the trailer for the upcoming Atlas, which has Lopez dipping her toe in the science fiction genre.

The official plot synopsis from Netflix reads,
“Atlas Shepherd (Jennifer Lopez), a brilliant but misanthropic data analyst with a deep distrust of artificial intelligence, joins a mission to capture a renegade robot with whom she shares a mysterious past. But when plans go awry, her only hope of saving the future of humanity from AI is to trust it.” The film sports an impressive cast to join Lopez, including Simu Liu, Sterling K. Brown, Gregory James Cohan, Abraham Popoola, Lana Parrilla and Mark Strong.

The new AI-themed sci-fi film comes from scribes Leo Sardarian and Aron Eli Coleite. Sitting in the director’s chair is Brad Peyton, who previously worked on blockbusters with Dwayne Johnson when he helmed San Andreas and Rampage. Producers on Atlas include Brad Peyton and Jeff Fierson for ASAP Entertainment; Joby Harold and Tory Tunnell for Safehouse Pictures; Jennifer Lopez, Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, and Benny Medina for Nuyorican Productions; and Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter for Berlanti/Schechter Films. Samson Mücke and Michael Riley McGrath are on board as executive producers.

Atlas is set to touch down on May 4.

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Lana Parrilla, who earned quite a large fanbase through her seven season, 150+ episode run as Regina Mills / Evil Queen / Roni on the ABC series Once Upon a Time, has signed on to be part of the impressive cast that’s being assembled for the Netflix sci-fi thriller Atlas. Parrilla’s co-stars in the film will include Jennifer Lopez (Hustlers), Simu Liu (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings), Sterling K. Brown (This Is Us), and Abraham Popoola (Morbius). Deadline didn’t have any details on the character Parrilla will be playing when they reported the news, but we do know that Liu is playing the villain in the film and Lopez’s character is Atlas, “a woman fighting for humanity in a future where an AI soldier has determined the only way to end war is to end humanity. To outthink this rogue AI, Atlas must work with the one thing she fears most — another AI.“

Deadline did offer a different synopsis for the movie, though. Here’s another description of what happens in Atlas: An intelligence analyst gets stranded on a distant planet and must learn to fight inside a military-grade mech suit in order to survive.

Sounds like the makings of an entertaining movie to me.

Atlas is being directed by Brad Peyton (Rampage) from a screenplay by Aron Eli Coleite (Locke & Key) and Leo Sardarian (StartUp). Joby Harold and Tory Tunnell are producing the film for Safehouse Pictures, with Peyton and Jeff Fierson producing for ASAP Entertainment and Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, Benny Medina, and Lopez producing for Nuyorican Productions. Courtney Baxter serves as executive producer, with Matt Schwartz co-producing.

How does Atlas sound to you, and what do you think of the cast so far? Are you a fan of Lana Parrilla’s work? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.

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When she's not rekindling an old flame with Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez is making movie deals. After signing a first-look deal with Netflix, Lopez has been cast as the lead of Brad Peyton's (Rampage, San Andreas) Atlas, an upcoming sci-fi thriller. Peyton is set to direct while Aron Eli Coleite is busy writing the most recent draft of the script based on Leo Sardarian's original script. In addition to taking on the lead role, Lopez will also produce.

The film follows Atlas, a woman fighting for humanity in a future where an AI soldier has determined the only way to end war is to end humanity. To outthink this rogue AI, Atlas must work with the one thing she fears most — another AI.

I can't say that I blame Atlas for finding AI untrustworthy. It's only a matter of time until our robot overlords rise and finish what a worldwide pandemic started. What's that? You don't believe me? Well, we'll see who's got a top-level position in the big tower during the robot apocalypse and who gets turned into a human battery, won't we? Now, if you'll excuse me, my tinfoil hat needs reshaping.

“I’m so honored to be working with Jennifer, Elaine, and the rest of the team at Nuyorican Productions along with our partners Joby and Tory at Safehouse,” Peyton said. “Having the chance to direct Jennifer in the title role of this movie is a dream come true, as I know she’ll bring the incredible strength, depth, and authenticity we’ve all come to admire from her work. Furthermore, Jeff and I are so excited to be back working with Scott, Ori, and the entire team at Netflix. They have been nothing short of amazing to work with and we are blessed to have the opportunity to make another movie on the service.”

The Atlas film project falls under the newly-established creative partnership forged between Lopez’s Nuyorican Productions and Netflix where Lopez, producing partner Goldsmith-Thomas, and longtime manager Medina will produce a slate of films, television series, scripted and unscripted content. Each project aims to highlight female actors, writers, and filmmakers. So far, Lopez has two other projects that fall under the new umbrella, including The Mother from director Niki Carpo and The Cipher, based on the novel by Isabella Maldonado.

Having grown up in a Lopez-positive household, I know two women who are going to be very excited to hear about these upcoming projects. My mom even called me from a Jennifer Lopez concert sometime before the pandemic broke. I couldn't hear a damn thing above all the screams.

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Look out, Vault Hunters! Edgar Ramirez is set to play Atlas in Eli Roth's adaptation of the uber-popular video game Borderlands. He joins Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ariana Greenblatt, Florian Munteanu, Haley Bennett, and Jack Black. In the best-selling video game franchise, Deukalian Atlas is a business titan and arms manufacturer and the most powerful person in the universe.

Per Deadline, Eli Roth's Borderlands follows Lilith (Blanchett), an infamous outlaw with a mysterious past, reluctantly returns to her home planet of Pandora to find the missing daughter of the universe’s most powerful S.O.B., Atlas (Ramirez). Lilith allies with an unexpected team – Roland (Hart), a former elite mercenary, now desperate for redemption; Tiny Tina (Greenblatt), a feral pre-teen demolitionist; Krieg (Munteanu), Tina’s musclebound, rhetorically challenged protector; Tannis (Curtis), the scientist with a tenuous grip on sanity; and Claptrap (Black), a persistent wiseass robot. These unlikely heroes must battle alien monsters and dangerous bandits to find and protect the missing girl, who may hold the key to unimaginable power. The fate of the universe could be in their hands – but they’ll be fighting for something more: each other.

Welp, I guess that closes the book on Handsome Jack being the antagonist of Eli Roth's Borderlands, no? Perhaps they're saving him for the sequel?

“The force of Edgar’s presence and the strength of his talent as an actor make him an ideal choice to play Atlas, a character who controls the fate of so many in the Borderlands universe. He’s the perfect addition to this perfect cast,” Nathan Kahane, president of the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group.

Ramirez recently played Detective Joe Mendoza for the HBO limited series The Undoing. He also stars alongside Jennifer Garner in the newly released Netflix family film Yes Day. Ramirez recently completed work on Simon Kinberg's The 355 and will star opposite Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt in Disney's Jungle Cruise. Meanwhile, he's set to star in Hagar Ben-Asher's The War Has Ended, as well as Losing Clementine, both of which are in pre-production.

Based on the best-selling PC and console gaming experience from developer Gearbox Software and publisher 2K, a wholly owned label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., "Borderlands” has sold more than 66 million units sold worldwide, including over 24 million units of “Borderlands 2,” which is the highest-selling title in the history of 2K. The most recent installment, “Borderlands 3,” which launched in September 2019 and was recently released for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, has sold in more than 11 million units worldwide and was honored with the award for Best Multiplayer Game at Gamescom 2019 and Best Ongoing Game at Gamescom 2020.

Can you believe the cast for this movie? Since when have we started taking video game adaptations this seriously? I sincerely hope that Roth and his team knock Borderlands out of the park because it sure would be nice to see Hollywood break the bank for more beloved video game franchises.

If Borderlands ends up being a hit, what games would you like to see adapted for the big screen? Personally, I'd like a movie based on Remedy Entertainment's Control, please and thank you.

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