Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Pratt In Talks To Co-Star in ‘Passengers’

Reigning sci-fi and fantasy movie stars Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt may be on a cinematic collision course. Multiple news sources are reporting that Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence and heartthrob Chris Pratt are in early talks to star opposite one another in Passengers, a romantic film of intergalactic proportions.

According to the Wrap, Passengers is the story of a man aboard a spaceship traveling to a new planet who awakens from cryogenic sleep 90 years too early. To stave off loneliness, the man wakes a female passenger aboard the same ship.

Reportedly, Passengers has been in a tortured development cycle, which has featured stops at the Weinstein Company and Focus Features, before ending up at Sony Pictures Entertainment. Stars at one point attached to the project include Keanu Reeves, Reese Witherspoon, and Rachel McAdams.

If any stars are a safe bet to bring the project back on track and get the much beleaguered Sony Pictures Entertainment the best return on investment, it’s Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt. As previously reported by the Inquisitr, Lawrence’s The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 narrowly edged out Pratt’s outing, Guardians of the Galaxy, to become the highest-grossing domestic film of 2014. The two films garnered a staggering $666.37 million domestically and over $1.4 billion worldwide.

Jennifer Lawrence is a three-time Academy Award nominee and one-time winner for her role in Silver Linings Playbook. Chris Pratt’s turn as Star-Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy endeared him to sci-fi fans around the world, and rumors of him taking on the role of Indiana Jones in a franchise reboot were enough to draw excitement from even the most skeptical of fans.

Jon Spaihts, who penned Doctor Strange for Marvel Studios, is reportedly writing the script for Passengers. The Imitation Game director Morten Tyldum is reportedly close to finalizing a deal to direct Lawrence and Pratt in Passengers and give the film even more Oscar cred.

It seems that only one thing could derail the momentum of Passengers — the packed schedules of Lawrence and Pratt.

Jennifer Lawrence will star in the swan song of the franchise that made her a household name, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2, later this year. The release of the final film in the franchise will no doubt be accompanied by an epic media blitz, meaning Lawrence will have to travel to premiers and press events for much of the end of 2015. Lawrence is also set to star in Joy from Silver Linings Playbook director David O. Russell. She will also appear in the next installment of the X-Men franchise, both of which are currently in pre-production.

Chris Pratt’s next film, Jurassic World, is due for release much sooner than the final Hunger Games installment, but Pratt is presumably locked in for at least one more Guardians of the Galaxy film.

The schedules of Lawrence and Pratt may make filming of Passengers complicated, but the caliber of performances those two deliver will no doubt be worth the wait.