From the creators of The Matrix and Run Lola Run comes a tale so complex and emotionally compelling that it could transcend 2012′s busy year. It’s beautiful, visually captivating, and full of heart. We’re talking about Lana & Andy Wachowski and Tom Tykwer’s epic, Cloud Atlas.

The first photos and a six-minute trailer of this massive epic hit the net, and since has received a lot of attention. The film adaptation of David Mitchell’s novel of the same title is more than just a set of adventures strung together through time. The story starts off in the 19th century with an ill clerk (Ben Whishaw), penning his experiences on a Polynesian sea voyage. The story then jumps forward to the 1930s where we’re introduced to an inspiring composer (also played by Whishaw) and his discovery of the clerk’s journal. And that’s just the beginning.

‘Cloud Atlas’ Gallery

A Huge Undertaking for Wachowski & Tykwer

Six separate stories make up the plot for Cloud Atlas, and each relationship, each character, holds the same souls, just reincarnated through time. To keep things together, the same actors play several different characters throughout the film, as the souls occupy different bodies at different times. In the new footage both Tom Hanks and Halle Berry’s characters emulate this passing of time and reconnecting of souls. It’s the 1970s and Berry portray’s a journalist while Hank plays a nuclear power plant engineer. Fast forward and Hanks plays the only survivor of a global apocalypse, and forms a relationship with a tribal woman (Berry) from a civilization that rose up from the devastation. The film also involves a futuristic setting as Doona Bae (The Host) plays a human clone, whose awareness and individuality could have her killed.

As you can tell, the project is a huge undertaking that involved multiple directors, editors, and cinematographers traveling to areas near England, Spain, Germany and several other locations. There’s really no telling if all the work will pay off. Why? Because, the film hits theaters October 26th, and this is the first time many people have even heard of it. The promotion team only has 3 months to spend their advertising dollars. Why the late start? Granted with a cast that includes Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugo Weaving and Hugh Grant, the names will do most of the attention grabbing. We haven’t seen Hall Berry in a while, and everyone loves Tom Hanks. Hopefully, the late start doesn’t come back to haunt them.

Directed by  Lana & Andy Wachowski and Tom Tykwer, and starring  Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Doona Bae, Hugh Grant, James D’Arcy, Ben Whishaw, David Gyasi, Zhou Xun, Keith David, and Susan Sarandon, Cloud Atlas slams into theaters October 26th, 2012.

‘Cloud Atlas’ 6-Minute International Movie Trailer