A trailer has been released for Keanu Reeves' forthcoming science-fiction thriller, Replicas. Reeves, who was first reported as joining this project as far back as 2014, portrays Will Foster, a man who tragically loses his wife and children in a car accident on a dark and stormy night. Fortunately, Will also happens to be a leading neuro-scientist whose work involves transferring the human consciousness into a robotic host. Along with a colleague, Thomas Middleditch's Ed, Will succeeds in creating replicas of his family but is faced with numerous moral challenges as a result, as well as interference from both the authorities and his shady employers.

Co-starring Alice Eve as Will's wife, Mona, Replicas was initially expected in late 2016 but didn't find a buyer until the following year, when it was picked up by Entertainment Studios for $4 million. After a period of relative quiet, it was announced earlier this month that Replicas would finally be coming to theaters on January 11th 2019. The movie is directed by Jeffrey Nachmanoff (The Day After Tomorrow, The Tourist) and was written by Chad St. John and Stephen Hamel.

Fans of high concept sci-fi can now get a first look at Replicas in a brand new trailer from Entertainment Studios. The footage neatly introduces the premise of the movie, highlighting the fateful car crash that triggers the plot and featuring a helpful voiceover from Keanu explaining how he resurrected his loved ones with the power of science. The trailer also introduces Jones, played by John Ortiz, who believes that the replicas are company property and he'll seemingly stop at nothing to acquire them.


Interestingly, it's quite clear from the trailer that Will's replicated wife will not spend much of the film in blissful ignorance about her robotic nature, as the footage includes a scene where Reeves' character explains to his wife that she had died. This will perhaps allow Replicas to explore how artificial intelligence reacts to the shock of finding out its own reality, rather than other films in the genre in which the robots tend to either be aware from the beginning or don't find out until the very end.

When Replicas was first announced, there was a significant amount of hype around the project, but it's probably fair to say that the anticipation has waned somewhat over the past four years. This may not have been helped by the release of movies such as Ex Machina and Blade Runner 2049 which deal with similar topics and may have scratched the itch for a thought-provoking movie centered around artificial intelligence and what it means to be considered a sentient being.

Replicas is due in theaters on January 11th 2019.