Cold Storage (2026) drops its first full trailer - and it's gnarly, funny, and very much R-rated
We finally have a full look at Cold Storage, the comedic sci-fi virus thriller that's been quietly building for a while. It's the kind of trailer that makes you lean forward - lots of sweat, alarms, and that "we're locked in here with it" energy.
Video note: the full trailer is available and will appear with this article automatically.
Here's the practical bit: Samuel Goldwyn (movies and tv series) Films has the North American rights and plans a nationwide theatrical run in 2026. No exact date yet. A teaser hit a few months back, and now the full trailer is out, giving us a much clearer sense of the tone - a mix of panic, deadpan humor, and splashy creature work.
Jonny Campbell (Doctor Who, Westworld) directs from a script by David Koepp (movies and tv series), adapted from his 2019 novel. Koepp's pen is familiar territory for big-screen suspense - think Jurassic Park, Mission: Impossible, Spider-Man, Panic Room, War of the Worlds - and you can feel that tight, keep-it-moving rhythm here.
The setup is grim in a fun way: decades ago, the military trapped a shape-shifting micro-organism deep underground. Cut to now - that space has a new life as a self-storage facility, the temperature's creeping up, and the thing gets loose. If it spreads, it spreads everywhere.
That's where our unlikely team comes in. Joe Keery (movies and tv series) plays Teacake, Georgina Campbell (movies and tv series) is Naomi - two night-shift employees who did not sign up for "parasitic fungus with brain-control vibes." And then there's Liam Neeson (movies and tv series) as a retired bioterror operative who knows exactly how bad this can get. Vanessa Redgrave (movies and tv series) and Sosie Bacon (movies and tv series) round out a sharp supporting cast.
The trailer leans into body-bursting shocks and awkward laughs - the kind you get when characters are cracking jokes just to keep breathing. It also confirms the rating: a hard R for violent content, gore, and language. So yeah, bring a strong stomach.
Behind the scenes, Gavin Polone produces, with Studiocanal's Shana Eddy Grouf, Ron Halpern, and Aaron Ensweiler overseeing. Koepp's said the movie aims to be "scary, funny, exhilarating, surprising, and riotously entertaining." From the footage, that tracks.
Here's what this could mean: a wide-release, crowd-pleasing sci-fi horror in 2026 with a cast people know and a writer who knows how to pace a ticking-clock thriller. If the marketing sticks this tone - scrappy, tense, a little cheeky - it could play really well.
- Distributor: Samuel Goldwyn Films (North America)
- Release window: 2026 (date TBA)
- Director: Jonny Campbell
- Writer: David Koepp, based on his 2019 novel
- Rating: R (violent content, gore, language)
- Cast: Liam Neeson, Joe Keery, Georgina Campbell, Sosie Bacon, Vanessa Redgrave
Koepp's novel is available here: Amazon. For the film page, see Cold Storage (2019). And for context, here's the earlier teaser that set this all up: watch the teaser.
Cold Storage looks like a ride. What did you catch in the trailer - a favorite gag, a gnarly shot, a line that stuck? Drop your take. We're watching this one closely.
