'Ad Astra' Five Takeaways from the First Trailer for New Brad Pitt Movie

After moving to Netflix for his most recent movie, War Machine, Brad Pitt has two blockbuster movies on tap for 2019. The first up will be, arguably, the most talked about movie of 2019, Quentin Tarentino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which stars Pitt alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in a story that trails along the Hollywood of the late 1960s and the Manson Family murders.

Following in the wake of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is Brad Pitt's other potential blockbuster, the outer space action movie Ad Astra. What exactly is Ad Astra? Well, the firs trailer just dropped on June 5th and here are five takeaways from the trailer for the new movie Ad Astra opening September 20th.

1. What does "Ad Astra" Mean?

Ad Astra is quite a striking title and for those not fluent in latin, it means 'To the Stars.' In Ad Astra Brad Pitt will portray NASA astronaut and military man Roy McBride. Notably, the Wikipedia entry for Ad Astra claims Pitt's character is on the Autism scale, though that is not clear from the first trailer which plays up the outer space action scenes and Pitt's apparent showdown with his father, played by Tommy Lee Jones.

2. Is that a Gun Battle on the moon?

It sure looks as if Ad Astra contains a gun fight on the moon. Or it could be some other craterous planet in a distant solar system. The premise, according to IMDB, states that Pitt's Roy is headed to the "outer edges of the solar system to find his father and unravel a mystery that threatens the survival of our planet. He uncovers secrets which challenge the nature of human existence and our place in the cosmos." So, maybe I am being glib about a moon battle, but that action is clearly in the trailer.

This appears to fly in the face of the notions put forward by Director James Grey who has stated in interviews that Ad Astra contains "the most realistic depiction of space travel that's been put in a movie." Grey has also, quite boisterously, described Ad Astra as a mash-up of Apocalypse Now and 2001 A Space Odyssey. That said, gun battles on distant planets and comparisons to Apocalypse Now certainly makes Ad Astra unique.

3. Movie Stars in Space is Becoming a Trend

Perhaps it's because audiences love science fiction and space or it's just that Hollywood stars have given up on wanting to be rock stars and now want to be astronauts, but it appears that space is hip again in Hollywood. Credit Sandra Bullock perhaps, but movie stars appear to be going to space more and more these days in the wake of Bullock's Oscar winning success in Gravity.

Matthew McConaughey, Matt Damon, Ryan Gosling, Jessica Chastain, Anne Hathaway, Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt, are just a few of the stars who've recently donned space suits on the big screen. Still to come this year, Natalie Portman and Jon Hamm will play astronauts in Lucy in the Sky, an Academy ready drama, if rumors are to be believed. There is even yet another astronaut biopic in the works. Actor Patrick J Adams is set to star as John Glenn in a movie for television with Nat Geo.

Thus, it appears, that Brad Pitt is merely the latest movie star jumping on the astronaut trend with Ad Astra.

4. Directed by James Grey

I mentioned earlier that James Grey is the director of Ad Astra. Grey is a fascinatingly odd director. James Grey broke through with the 2000 drama The Yards starring Mark Wahlberg, Joaquin Phoenix and Charlize Theron. That film was a gritty, grimy drama that established the auteur credentials of Grey. From there however, Grey's move to more mainstream features has been or hit and miss, mostly misses if you check the box office.

Most recently, Grey directed the well received and very little seen The Lost City of Z starring Charlie Hunnam. The Lost City of Z is a really, really good movie that was shamefully under-seen. Grey is an explosively talented director who deserves to have a movie break out in blockbuster fashion. Interesting to note, Brad Pitt was initially set to star in The Lost City of Z several years ago with Grey directing but it never worked out with Pitt's schedule. The idea of working with Grey remained however, Pitt stayed on to Executive Produce The Lost City of Z and now, of course, here they are together.

5. Opening Weekend Competition

Ad Astra is opening on September 20th. Does this mean the movie is in the Oscar race? Seems unlikely, in fact, despite the classy latin title, it appears that Ad Astra is being positioned as a blockbuster action movie. This weekend in recent memory has been home to movies such as The Kingsman: The Golden Circle, two sequels to The Maze Runner and Johnny Depp's hybrid Academy bid and action flick Black Mass, which leaned more into the action when it become clear an Academy push was not coming. Also, given that Pitt has a bigger Oscar play in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, the Academy play for Ad Astra becomes even more of an afterthought.

As just an action adventure movie however, Ad Astra has some contemporary weekend competition. Ad Astra is set to open opposite Rambo Last Blood which will also be seeking that action movie dollar. Even though Brad Pitt is perhaps more well liked and well thought of than Sylvester Stallone, you can't rule out nostalgia as a motivating factor for ticket buyers. Rambo Last Blood is a big nostalgia play for Stallone and if people buy in, it could spell box office trouble for Ad Astra.

Ad Astra arrives in theaters on September 20th.