Natalie Portman sci-fi drama Annihilation gets 2018 release date

The Southern Reach will make landfall on the big screen in February.

Paramount Pictures has announced that Annihilation, the sci-fi drama based on the first installment in Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach book trilogy, will open Feb. 23, 2018 in theaters nationwide.

Directed and adapted by Ex Machina filmmaker Alex Garland, Annihilation stars Natalie Portman as a biologist who joins an expedition to a mysterious site known as Area X, while also seeking answers about the disappearance of her husband (Oscar Isaac). The cast also includes Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tessa Thompson, and Gina Rodriguez.

VanderMeer’s book was published in 2014 and was followed that same year by Authority and Acceptance.

Annihilation is currently slated to debut opposite CBS Films’ haunted-house tale Winchester.