Replicas: Trailer and Release Date for Keanu Reeves Sci-Fi Movie

Replicas, a philosophically metaphysical science fiction technological thriller starring Keanu Reeves (the John Wick films), Alice Eve (Iron Fist) and Thomas Middleditch (Silicon Valley), looked like an intriguing genre offering when it first blipped the industry radar. However, while the project went into production in summer of 2016, and even released a trailer last year, the movie went M.I.A., and – for reasons unknown – was left in project purgatory… until now.

In the director’s chair for Replicas is Jeffrey Nachmanoff, a helmer who has mostly lived in the arena of television with episodes of Hostages, Chicago Fire, and Homeland under his belt. He works off a screenplay by Chad St. John, who made his feature-writing debut with 2016 Gerard Butler-starring action sequel, London Has Fallen and wrote the recent Jennifer Garner-starring actioner, Peppermint. Said script was based on a story concept by Stephen Hamel, an uncredited producer on Keanu Reeves movies John Wick and Siberia, as well as the 2016 Chris Pratt/Jennifer Lawrence sci-fi film, Passengers.

Replicas Release Date

Replicas is, at long last, officially set for its wide release, scheduled to arrive at theaters on January 11, 2019.

Replicas Trailer

A new Replicas trailer arrived in September, letting the world know that it still exists. Interestingly, it showcases a movie that seems to have evolved in tone and topic. Now, the film is back on track for a release.

At first glance, the new Replicas trailer appears to promote a different movie than last year’s trailer, appearing to be darker, more intense and depicting Reeves as a literal lifehacker; an enigmatic renegade scientist with worldly designs.  

However, stylistic editing aside, the same premise is still essentially here. Keanu Reeves stars as Will Foster, a neuroscientist who’s looking to prove that we are most than just dust in the wind (/Bill&TedReference). After Will’s family is killed in a car crash, he turns to cloning to bring them back. However, it appears that Will’s process – aided by an assistant (Thomas Middleditch) – kicks off Frankenstein style with an experiment to digitally reproduce the human consciousness of a dead man, who’s none too pleased when he awakens in the body of a robot. His experiments eventually transition to the cloning of his wife (Alice Eve), leading to more metaphysical weirdness.

Here is last year’s trailer, which, in stark tonal contrast to the new clip, focuses more on the tragedy of Will’s family. Here, Reeves’s Will comes across more like Pet Sematary’s Louis Creed, a tragedy-attracting delusional man who’s playing a fatalistic game that can only lead to disaster for everyone around him. 

Joseph Baxter is a contributor for Den of Geek and Syfy Wire. You can find his work here. Follow him on Twitter @josbaxter.