'Breathe' What We Know About Jennifer Hudson's First Action Movie

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• Does 'Breathe' Have a Release Date?

• Is There a Trailer for 'Breathe'?

• What Is 'Breathe' About?

• Who Stars in 'Breathe'?

• Who is Making Breathe?

The upcoming sci-fi film, Breathe, seeks to provide the thrills you'd expect from a sci-fi thriller along with a deeper message. The action thriller hails from writer-director Stefon Bristol, a filmmaker known for previously making the Netflix sci-fi feature, See You Yesterday. Considering that his first full-length film in the same genre earned him great reception and acclaim, fans can expect that his upcoming film might also live up to that expectation.

Breathe is set in the near future, where air supply on the earth’s surface is scarce and survivors have to ration their oxygen use. In such a dilapidated New York City, Maya and her daughter, Zora, are forced to live in a bunker, where Maya’s scientist husband, Darius, is working on an oxygen generator that could save the world. One day when Darius doesn’t return after his trip to the earth’s surface, Maya and Zora start taking those trips themselves and encounter Tess, a stranger who seeks shelter and help from Maya by claiming to know Darius and his invention. Once the strangers are inside the bunker, things take a complete turn and Maya and Zora find themselves in a fierce battle of survival while on a limited oxygen supply, with the strangers revealing more than they let on. EGOT-winner Jennifer Hudson returns for her first acting role since Respect in 2021. Hudson stars as the lead, Maya, with Quvenzhané Wallis as her daughter, Zora, and Milla Jovovich as Tess.

Billed as an “edge-of-your-seat survival thriller” and exploring the terrifying but very real possibility of end-of-the-world, Breathe has the potential to be a gritty sci-fi action film. While you wait for the film to arrive this April, read on to find out everything we know so far about Breathe, including the plot, trailer, cast, and characters.

Breathe (2024)

Air-supply is scarce in the near future, forcing a mother and daughter to fight to survive when two strangers arrive desperate for an oxygenated haven.

Does 'Breathe' Have a Release Date?

Breathe is set for a limited theatrical release on Friday, April 26, 2024, with simultaneous VOD and digital releases. The sci-fi film thriller’s premiere coincides with other long-awaited titles releasing on the same day, including Challengers starring Zendaya and Boy Kills World starring Bill Skarsgård.

Is There a Trailer for 'Breathe'?

Following an exclusive image released in March 2024, the first official trailer of Breathe gives us a peek into the heart-pounding thriller. Set in the future, the footage shows a mother-daughter duo in a desperate fight for survival on a post-apocalyptic Earth. The trailer opens with Maya’s husband and Zora’s father, Darius (Common), leaving their bunker, which will be the last time they see him. After he goes missing, and presumably dead, the women begin to leave their hideout, when they encounter two more survivors on the surface on one of their trips. Claiming to know about Darius and what could have possibly happened to him, one of the strangers, Tess, tries to get into Maya’s bunker. What seems to be a plea for help and trying to save the world, soon becomes a sinister agenda to seize the remaining oxygen. From here, the plot becomes tenser and darker with Maya and Zora’s desperate fight for survival against these two intruders and new strangers seeking them.

In addition to introducing the main characters of Hudson, Wallis, and Jovovich, the trailer also shows cut scenes featuring Sam Worthington and Raúl Castillo, who are also likely to join the fight for the oxygen generator. Most of the trailer is heavily action-packed with morbid frames of what appears to be a post-apocalyptic New York City, which helps to make the plot of a survival sci-fi thriller more convincing.

What Is 'Breathe' About?

Breathe is a heart pounding thriller set in the future. After Earth is left uninhabitable due to lack of oxygen, a mother Maya (Jennifer Hudson) and her daughter Zora (Quvenzhané Wallis) are forced to live underground, with short trips to the surface only made possible by a coveted state of the art oxygen suit made by Maya’s husband, Darius, whom she presumes to be dead. When a mysterious couple arrives claiming to know Darius and his fate, Maya tentatively agrees to let them into their bunker but these visitors are not who they claim to be ensuing in mother and daughter fighting for survival. I

Who Stars in 'Breathe'?

Bristol and his team have put together quite a diverse cast for the sci-fi action thriller, led by Dreamgirls star Jennifer Hudson and Resident Evil star Milla Jovovich. Hudson stars as Maya, a mother and survivor, who is trying to protect her daughter in their underground bunker after the lack of oxygen makes the Earth’s surface uninhabitable. Jovovich stars as Tess, a stranger trying to get Maya’s oxygen generator on the pretext of seeking shelter.

While Jovovich has a solid portfolio of starring in numerous sci-fi, action-thrillers, and survival films, like Ultraviolet and The Fourth Kind, her co-star, Hudson, is best known for her breakout role in Dreamgirls, followed by various roles in films like Chi-Raq, and The Secret Life of Bees, among three studio albums and numerous singles to her credit. Jovovich will be next seen in Brad Anderson’s World Breaker.

Joining the leading cast members, Academy Award-nominee Quvenzhané Wallis stars as Maya and Darius’s teenage daughter, Zora, who initially believes that Tess has real intentions of fixing their oxygen generator and helping save the planet. But she is soon proven wrong and is forced to fight the strangers along with her mother. Wallis is best known for her breakthrough role in Beasts of the Southern Wild and became one of the youngest actors to earn an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for her performance. She also gained recognition for her roles in 12 Years a Slave, and the 2014 remake of Annie.

The cast also includes actor-rapper-musician Common, of Hell on Wheels fame, as Darius, an inventor, and Maya’s husband, who leaves their bunker one day and never returns, and is assumed to be dead after his oxygen ran out; Avatar franchise star Sam Worthington as Lucas; Class of ’09 alum Raúl Castillo as Micah, The Bold and The Beautiful alum Dan Martin as Mike. James Saito (The Company You Keep) and Kaliswa Brewster (Billions) are also credited for other supporting roles.

Who is Making Breathe?

Breath hails from screenwriter-director Stefon Bristol in his second feature film project, which he directs from a Black List screenplay written by Doug Simon (Brotherhood). Before Breathe, fans might know the filmmaker from his directorial debut, See You Yesterday, also a sci-fi thriller, which was produced by Spike Lee. The film earned Bristol an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay. Bristol also worked as an assistant to Lee, while filming BlacKkKlansman, produced several short films like Brutus, and also directed episodes of the television series, Payroll.

The upcoming sci-fi thriller is produced by Basil Iwanyk of the John Wick franchise fame, under his production banner, Thunder Road Films, along with Erica Lee. English indie artist and Florence & The Machine member, Isabella Summers composed the music for the film, with Felipe Vara de Rey, who previously collaborated with Bristol on See You Yesterday, serving as the cinematographer. ChristianMercuri and Ruzanna Kegeyan serve as executive producers for Capstone Studios, alongside David Haring, Esther Hornstein, and Will Flynn.

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