A couple of days ago I read a close-to-final draft of Jon Spaihts‘ Passengers, a sci-fi drama which has been directed by Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game) with Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence in the lead roles. Sony/Columbia will release it on 12.21.16. The presumption in some quarters (certainly on Anne Thompson’s part) is that it’ll qualify as an awards-level thing. And maybe it will.

Here’s the Wiki synopsis: “A spaceship, Starship Avalon, on its 120-year voyage to a distant colony planet known as the Homestead Colony and transporting 5,259 people, has a malfunction in two of its sleep chambers. As a result, two hibernation pods open prematurely and the two people that awoke are stranded on the spaceship, still 90 years from their destination.”

I won’t be mentioning this again until Passengers has screened and the embargo has lifted (i.e., eight months from now) but there’s a huge (and I mean Bernie Sanders-level HUUUGE) ethical problem involving one of the characters in the film. Once everyone has seen it this issue is going to be kicked around quite vigorously, trust me. I suspect it’ll be a stopper for some viewers and/or voters. I won’t say any more than this. I just saying right now that Passengers is an ethical hand grenade waiting to detonate.