The first full trailer for Steven Spielberg's West Side Story is here, and it's sure to make fans of the musical excited. The new trailer details the film's classic Romeo and Juliet plotline, while also showing off some truly stunning visuals. The first teaser trailer for the film premiered back in April during the 2021 Academy Awards. This is the second feature film adaptation of the 1957 Broadway musical and it will be released in theatres by Disney's 20th Century Studios.
The new West Side Story trailer opens with the classic song from the musical titled "Tonight," sung by newcomer Rachel Ziegler (Shazam! Fury of the Gods) in her first feature film role as Maria. Following Maria's point of view, we see the infamous dance where star-crossed lovers Maria and Tony (Ansel Elgort) first meet. They flirt a little behind the bleachers before we shift focus to the character Riff (Mike Faist), the leader of the white gang The Jets, lamenting to Tony that things around them are changing and being taken over by people he doesn't like.
Maria's brother Bernardo (David Alverez), the leader of the Puerto Rican gang The Sharks, warns her to stay away from Tony while we see the gang's scuffle in the streets as the police intervene. Then the two gangs face down one another as Riff asks a conflicted Tony, "Who are you? Friend or foe?" The rest of the West Side Story trailer shows off the beautiful cinematography as well as the two gangs fighting, dancing, and singing in the rough and tough streets of 1950's New York City.
Inspired by William Shakespeare's classic tragedy Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story follows two young lovers who are caught in the middle of a war between rival street gangs. Written by Arthur Laurents with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, the musical was first adapted into a feature film starring Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer in 1961. Considered to be one of the greatest movie musicals of all time, the film went on to win 10 Academy Awards including Best Picture.
While it's a tale as old as time, the new film looks to be an impressive update of the classic forbidden love story. The cinematography is simply gorgeous, as are the overall production design and costumes. As with many recent theatrical films, West Side Story has had its release date shifted due to the pandemic. The film was originally slated to premiere in December of 2020 before it was pushed back by a year. However, it will now premiere in theatres on the 60th anniversary of the original 1961 film. The new movie will have an exclusive 45-day theatrical run before streaming on Disney Plus.
West Side Story will premiere in theatres on December 10th, 2021.
Source: 20th Century Studios | Youtube