65: Release Date, Cast, And More

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John Krasinski was deservedly showered in accolades for his efforts as the director, co-writer, and star of 2018's "A Quiet Place," a tense thriller about a family struggling to survive in a post-apocalyptic world overrun by blind alien monsters with a heightened sense of hearing. However, Scott Beck and Bryan Woods also deserve their fair share of praise for writing the acclaimed film, drawing from a story the pair came up with based on their shared love of silent cinema and growing up near farmlands in Iowa.

Whereas Krasinski has since moved on to "A Quiet Place Part II," Beck and Woods have continued to focus on original projects in the forms of the slasher horror film "Haunt" and the three-parter "Almost There (Iowa)" for the Quibi Roku horror anthology series "50 States of Fright" (all of which they both wrote and directed). Now, Beck and Woods are reuniting with "50 States" producer Sam Raimi for a new sci-fi thriller entitled "65." Here's what we know about the film so far.

"65" is being backed by Sony/Columbia Pictures and has gone through a handful of release date changes — including some that were directly related to the pandemic — since originally being scheduled to open in theaters in spring 2022. It is now slated to reach the big screen on March 10, 2023, which is the same weekend Paramount plans on dropping its slasher sequel, "Scream VI."

With "Creed III" due to bow a week earlier and "Shazam! Fury of the Gods" launching one week after, it will certainly be interesting to see how a non-sequel like "65" fares in the face of so much franchise competition. To its credit, though, "65" has a killer pulpy genre premise (more on that momentarily), and the fact that it's an original project may only serve to further pique audiences' interests. "A Quiet Place" was also a massive success when it opened in the spring of 2018, so who knows? Box office history may yet repeat itself for Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, five years later.

The original logline for "65" ("An astronaut crash lands on a mysterious planet only to discover he's not alone") inspired all manner of wild speculation from yours truly, including the theory that it would essentially be "Cast Away" in space, with the twist that Wilson the volleyball is actually a blood-thirsty alien. In reality, however, it turns out Scott Beck and Bryan Woods have come up with a concept that's somehow even wilder than that: "Planet of the Apes," but with dinosaurs. Well, okay, the dinos don't actually speak english and haven't invented anti-human propaganda like the primates in that franchise, but you get my drift.

The official synopsis for "65" reads as follows:

After a catastrophic crash on an unknown planet, pilot Mills (Adam Driver) quickly discovers he's actually stranded on Earth ... 65 million years ago. Now, with only one chance at rescue, Mills and the only other survivor, Koa (Ariana Greenblatt), must make their way across an unknown terrain riddled with dangerous prehistoric creatures in an epic fight to survive.

Adam Driver is starring in "65" opposite Ariana Greenblatt ("Avengers: Infinity War") and Chloe Coleman ("Big Little Lies"), with Nika King ("Euphoria") co-starring. It's fresh territory for Driver, who's obviously no stranger to sci-fi fare, but has yet to really earn his bonafides as a full-blown action movie star. The closest he's come to that so far was with his role in Jim Jarmusch's "The Dead Don't Die," an absurdist, post-modern zombie comedy that made an extremely important contribution to cinematic history by sticking the towering, broad-shouldered actor in a smart car.

Behind the camera, Scott Beck and Bryan Woods are directing, writing, and producing "65," with Sam Raimi among those producing for Raimi Productions. Beck and Woods have a mixed track record of success as directors so far; where their 2015 found-footage thriller "Nighlight" earned pretty terrible reviews, their haunted house-based 2019 slasher "Haunt" garnered a far warmer response (even if some critics felt it borrowed a little too much from the likes of "Saw"). Basically, they seem to be refining their skills every time they step behind the camera, so that bodes well for "65."

Beck and Woods' production team only further inspires confidence in "65." Their ranks include cinematographer Salvatore Totino (whose visuals certainly helped elevate the "A Quiet Place"-style thriller "Bird Box"), as well as "Blade Runner" costume designer Michael Kaplan (who also worked with Driver on Disney's "Star Wars" sequel trilogy). Perhaps most exciting of all, Danny Elfman is composing the score, which will no doubt help to set the movie's appropriately thrilling mood.

After a catastrophic crash on an unknown planet, pilot Mills (Adam Driver) quickly discovers he's actually stranded on Earth ... 65 million years ago. Now, with only one chance at rescue, Mills and the only other survivor, Koa (Ariana Greenblatt), must make their way across an unknown terrain riddled with dangerous prehistoric creatures in an epic fight to survive.