Way back in the crazy days of 2004, two kids by the name of Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson teamed up to save the day… by stealing SAT answers in MTV’s The Perfect Score. Eventually, after a quick stop at The Nanny Diaries, the two would become fixtures of the world of Marvel movies with The Avengers, cementing themselves as heroic blockbuster talent. Whether you’ve been with them for the entire ride, or jumped on in their era of heroics, the news that Evans and Johansson are teaming up on a secretive new project should be enough to make all fans assemble.
Entitled Project Artemis, Deadline shared that this fresh film has been acquired by Apple for around $100 million. When you have got two founding Avengers and a story that’s vaguely described as “set against the space race”, that sort of money is easy to throw down. Written by Rose Gilroy, daughter of real life couple and Nightcrawler teammates Dan Gilroy and Rene Russo, the final feather in this project’s cap is that Ozark’s Jason Bateman is in the director’s chair.
Putting everything else aside for the moment, this reunion has been in the works for some time now. Let’s not forget that originally Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson were supposed to reunite for Ghosted, another Apple original film. Though that movie saw Johansson leaving due to scheduling conflicts, another Evans-related reunion ended up taking place, as Knives Out’s Ana de Armas jumped into play. Now all is right in the world, with Captain America and Black Widow potentially racing to the moon.
Though the plot details for Project Artemis aren’t plentiful, the name and space race setting seem to suggest specific possibilities. A real life NASA mission also named Artemis is currently in the works, which signals that we could be seeing a speculative sci-fi movie that depicts what those efforts might look like. Aiming to “land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon,” as well as prepare humanity for its first mission to Mars, either of those threads might be on the table.
We could see Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson as two of the brave people getting that mission off the ground. At this point, it's not that surprising of a concept, as we've seen them do everything from try to steal SAT scores to preventing Thanos from wiping out half of the universe. Which just makes it all the crazier to think that the kids you see in the trailer for The Perfect Score below have come so far:
It’s always good to see actors that enjoy each other’s company putting the band back together. With Project Artemis, the potential storyline and the roster of talent assembled is a very exciting prospect for the cinematic future. Should the project proceed as currently planned, Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson will add another notch to their tally of shared adventures, which also includes the in-the-works Little Shop of Horrors remake. Is there a concept these two can’t tackle?
In the meantime, it looks like Chris Evans will be reuniting with Ana de Armas in 2022, provided that their presence on the cast list for Netflix’s The Gray Man has them sharing scenes together in the yet-to-be-released film. In addition to all of the running into old friends, Evans will also be engaging in his own space race, thanks to his gig voicing the real Buzz Lightyear in Disney/Pixar’s Lightyear, which is set for release on June 17. To check out the competition for these projects and other 2022 releases, check out our list of upcoming movies headed to theaters later this year.
