We got our first look at Mortal Engines, the film being produced by Lord of The Rings director, Peter Jackson, during the Super Bowl. That initial taste set up a world where Earth was now a series of cities that were literally on the move, and at war with each other. Today we got our first full look at the film and it is giving us a much deeper look at the story.

While Mortal Engines isn’t directed by Jackson, it might just be the next best thing. Christian Rivers could best be described as his protege. He started working for Jackson at WETA as a storyboard artist on Braindead and he’s been working his way up doing visual effects and second unit directing on the LOTR trilogy, The Hobbit movies, and King Kong.

Mortal Engines opens in theaters on December 14th and stars Hera Hilmar, Hugo Weaving, Robert Sheehan, Jihae, Leila George, Ronan Raftery, Colin Salmon, Patrick Malahide, Regé-Jean Page, and Stephen Lang.

Thousands of years after civilization was destroyed by a cataclysmic event, humankind has adapted and a new way of living has evolved. Gigantic moving cities now roam the Earth, ruthlessly preying upon smaller traction towns. Tom Natsworthy (Robert Sheehan)—who hails from a Lower Tier of the great traction city of London—finds himself fighting for his own survival after he encounters the dangerous fugitive Hester Shaw (Hera Hilmar). Two opposites, whose paths should never have crossed, forge an unlikely alliance that is destined to change the course of the future.

Mortal Engines is the startling, new epic adventure directed by Oscar®-winning visual-effects artist Christian Rivers (King Kong). Joining Rivers are The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogies three-time Academy Award®-winning filmmakers Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, who have penned the screenplay. The Universal and MRC adaptation is from the award-winning book series by Philip Reeve, published in 2001 by Scholastic.

On board as producers are Zane Weiner (The Hobbit trilogy), Amanda Walker (The Hobbit trilogy) and Deborah Forte (Goosebumps), as well as Walsh and Jackson. Ken Kamins (The Hobbit trilogy) joins Boyens as executive producer. Universal will distribute the film worldwide.