First Contact, Last Chance: Kevin Hart’s Sci-Fi Adventure XENO Blasts Into Theaters This Fall

Lulu Wilson stars in XENO, a wild new sci-fi adventure produced by Kevin Hart and featuring creature work by the Jim Henson Company.

FIRST LOOK: Kevin Hart-Produced Sci-Fi Adventure XENO Drops Trailer Ahead of September Release

You read that right—Kevin Hart’s production company Hartbeat is behind one of this fall’s most unexpected sci-fi spectacles. From writer-director Matthew Loren Oates, XENO brings together heart, government paranoia, and practical creature effects for a PG-13 adventure that looks like E.T. by way of Attack the Block.

Lulu Wilson stars as a teenage girl who stumbles upon a mysterious alien in the desert. What begins as a strange encounter quickly turns into a bond that defies everything she’s been told. But with shadowy government agents closing in and a planet-threatening secret about to be revealed, she must decide if this being is truly a monster—or the only friend she can trust.

The trailer, which dropped today, teases stunning creature effects courtesy of The Jim Henson Company’s Creature Shop, giving the film an eerie, tactile edge missing from most digital-heavy releases.

Also starring Omari Hardwick (Power, Army of the Dead), Wrenn Schmidt (For All Mankind), and Paul Schneider (Parks and Recreation), XENO is shaping up to be a grounded yet thrilling entry into the alien encounter canon.

Release Info:

XENO opens nationwide on September 19, courtesy of Blue Fox Entertainment.

Credits:

Written and directed by Matthew Loren Oates

Produced by Kevin Hart, Bryan Smiley, and Luke Kelly-Clyne for Hartbeat, and Shana Marie and Jesse Jensen for Tabooma.