Robert Zemeckis used his motion capture animation style to bring to life the children’s classic The Polar Express. For a follow up he decided to do something a little more literary: going back to one of the first known pieces of writing with an adaptation of Beowulf. Since that announcement not much has been seen or heard from the project other than the occasional casting announcement: Angelina Jolie as Grendel’s mom, Anthony Hopkins as Hrothgar, you know – good solid voices in a Zemeckis film.

Well, now we’re getting our first look at what the movie’s visual style might be courtesy of filmfocus. They’ve gotten their hands on some pictures of a banner and a lobby display for the film and… the images are shadowy. We’re seeing no creepy CG-faces right now, just well shaped bodies and statements of what “the curse” is. Oh – and I’m guessing the image of the Harryhousen style creature is Grendel, which is a little disappointing. I would think that’s the figure you’d want masked in shadow.

Take a look below at a couple of the images. Head over to Filmfocus to see more of what they’ve gotten their hands on.