Warner Bros. has released the first trailer for Jeff Nichols‘ Midnight Special starring Michael Shannon, as a father who protects his son from religious extremists and the U.S. government by constantly staying on the run. In fact, the film reunites Shannon with Nichols, after the two had already worked together on Take Shelter four years ago.

Check out Nichols’ take on the sci-fi genre in the Midnight Special trailer here below.

Watching the trailer, you get a sense that Nichols was inspired by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin films. Of course, Nichols added some dark tones to it to make sure he branded Midnight Special as his film. There is a definite E.T. vibe when you see it.

As for what we see in the trailer, we don’t know what kind of powers Alton (Jaeden Lieberher) has that make him and his father, played by Shannon, go out on the run. We see that government agents want to take his son in, and then there is the religious fanaticism angle that makes sure that Alton and his father are constantly staying on the run. But Alton’s father isn’t even sure what Alton is capable of, but seeing how committed he is to protecting him at all costs will be interesting to see. So in the end, revealing very little about the film itself might be doing us a favor as it keeps us intrigued. It’s worked well so far for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, might as well use that same method on other films like Midnight Special.

Nichols also wrote the script. Starring Kirsten Dunst, Joel Edgerton, Sam Shepard, Adam Driver, Bill Camp, Scott Haze, and Paul Sparks, Warner Bros. will release Midnight Special in theaters on March 18, 2016!

Here’s the official synopsis,

Trailer

[Source: Warner Bros.]