The Beast Trailer Puts Samuel L. Jackson Behind the Wheel

Samuel L. Jackson takes the driver’s seat in the official trailer for The Beast, Renny Harlin’s action thriller about a president under attack. His injured Secret Service agent, played by Joel Kinnaman, is in the vehicle with him, but the president has to operate the armored limousine himself. Unified Pictures’ trailer arrived September 22, ahead of the film’s October 9, 2026 U.S. theatrical release.

What does the official trailer show?

The video opens with the president trying to get the vehicle’s identification system to recognize him while an attack unfolds nearby. The joke lands quickly: even the person the car was built to protect has trouble getting through its security checks. Kinnaman’s agent argues that he should be driving; Jackson’s president points out that their situation has already made that impossible.

From there, the trailer alternates between the pair inside the limousine and combat outside it. Screens in the cabin display the car’s systems. Later footage shows gunfire, explosions and people scrambling across a street. The president asks for more firepower, and the vehicle’s automated voice announces its miniguns. These are trailer images and lines, not a reliable sequence of every event in the finished film.

The unusual part of the premise is also its clearest action hook. The president cannot simply wait for a rescue convoy: he is steering the very machine designed to keep him safe while his wounded protection officer remains with him. The trailer plays that reversal for tension and for moments of dry humor between Jackson and Kinnaman. It does not identify the attackers or show how the coup ends.

What is The Beast about?

Unified Pictures’ synopsis says unidentified hostile forces coordinate a coup against the United States. The president discovers that the heavily armored vehicle nicknamed The Beast has classified offensive capabilities. Separated from his wife, he must learn to use it while trying to save his life, Secret Service agent Taft and the country.

That synopsis establishes the threat and the agent’s name; the trailer sells the president’s immediate struggle to control the car. Neither source names a faction behind the coup. It would be reading too much into rapid cuts of masked attackers and burning streets to assign them an identity or claim a particular confrontation resolves the wider plot.

Who made The Beast, and when is it out?

Renny Harlin directs, with Umair Aleem credited as screenwriter. Guy Burnet is also among the announced cast. Jackson plays the president and Kinnaman plays Taft. Rotten Tomatoes’ current film listing names Aura Entertainment as U.S. distributor and lists Film 44 and Unified Pictures as production companies. Those are different roles: Unified is the production company hosting the film page and official media, while Aura is listed for U.S. distribution.

The October 9 date is a theatrical release date, not a streaming date. Rotten Tomatoes currently labels the U.S. opening limited, so local showtimes may vary. No streaming date appears in the official film information consulted for this article.

This trailer also has a place in an existing promotional campaign. Footage was circulating earlier in September, and the A.V. Club reported the full trailer on September 22. This is therefore the film’s official full trailer, not its first footage. Viewers looking for the confirmed premise, cast and cinema date can find all three in the video and the production company’s film page.