'A Beautiful Planet' IMAX Trailer Offers 1st Look at Astronauts' Earth Views

Trailer for 'A Beautiful Planet'
A new trailer for "A Beautiful Planet," narrated by actress Jennifer Lawrence, previews the IMAX 3D space film about Earth. (Image credit: IMAX)

"It was just overwhelmingly beautiful."

Those words, spoken by Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti in the newly-released movie trailer for "A Beautiful Planet," summarize the IMAX 3D film, which opens in theaters on April 29.

"Beautiful Planet," narrated by actress Jennifer Lawrence, features footage of the Earth as filmed by Cristoforetti and her fellow crew members on board the International Space Station. IMAX made the film in cooperation with NASA. [Watch: IMAX Trailer for "A Beautiful Planet"]

"A crew of astronauts from around the globe capture the wonders of our world as few can," Lawrence says in the trailer. "From this unique vantage point, we gain insight into the impact we have on the environment and witness what humankind can accomplish when we work together."

The new trailer features scenes of Cristoforetti, who is an astronaut with the European Space Agency, together with Terry Virtsand Kjell Lindgren of NASA, and Kimiya Yui of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), floating inside the space station, interspersed with sweeping views of the Earth rotating below.

"The best part of being an astronaut is looking back at our home planet — especially at night. The cities are so bright and so vibrant and so colorful," remarks Virts.

"On the Earth, we have everything we need to survive, air to breath and food and water to sustain life. It is incredible the effort that was needed to design this [space station] life support system flying around the planet," he says.

"A Beautiful Planet" is the eighth IMAX movie to be filmed in space. Director Toni Myers' previous space films include "Hail Columbia," "The Dream is Alive," "Destiny in Space" and "Mission to Mir." Her most recent documentaries were "Space Station 3D" and "Hubble 3D."

Prior to "A Beautiful Planet," Myers gave audiences a look at the Earth from space in the 1990 IMAX film, "Blue Planet."

"It is a giant universe out there, there's lots of stars, lots of planets, but there is nowhere like Earth," says Virts in the trailer for "A Beautiful Planet."

"Looking at Earth from space, we need to start to consider ourselves more as crew members, not passengers," says Cristoforetti.

Virts, Cristoforetti and cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov lifted off to the space station in November 2014 for a six month mission. NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Butch Wilmore and Scott Kelly, the latter who just returned to Earth after nearly a year in space, also took turns behind the digital camera for the movie.

ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, inside the space station cupola, photographs the Earth in a scene from the IMAX film "A Beautiful Planet." (Image credit: IMAX)

Through the footage, IMAX invites the public "aboard the International Space Station for an incredible journey."

"Explore the challenges we face and the changes we can make to secure our future," says Lawrence.

Watch the new IMAX trailer for "A Beautiful Planet," narrated by Jennifer Lawrence, at collectSPACE.

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Robert Z. Pearlman
collectSPACE.com Editor, Space.com Contributor

Robert Pearlman is a space historian, journalist and the founder and editor of collectSPACE.com, an online publication and community devoted to space history with a particular focus on how and where space exploration intersects with pop culture. Pearlman is also a contributing writer for Space.com and co-author of "Space Stations: The Art, Science, and Reality of Working in Space” published by Smithsonian Books in 2018. He previously developed online content for the National Space Society and Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin, helped establish the space tourism company Space Adventures and currently serves on the History Committee of the American Astronautical Society, the advisory committee for The Mars Generation and leadership board of For All Moonkind. In 2009, he was inducted into the U.S. Space Camp Hall of Fame in Huntsville, Alabama. In 2021, he was honored by the American Astronautical Society with the Ordway Award for Sustained Excellence in Spaceflight History.