Samuel L. Jackson plays the President of the United States in The Beast, an action film that keeps almost all of its chaos inside and around the armored presidential limousine. Joel Kinnaman co-stars as Agent Taft, the wounded Secret Service agent stuck in the car with him. Two promotional cuts are circulating, a roughly one-minute teaser and a longer trailer that runs close to two minutes, and both end on the same theatrical date card.
Quick answer: The Beast arrives only in theaters on October 9, 2026. Renny Harlin directs, with Samuel L. Jackson as the President and Joel Kinnaman as Agent Taft.
What the trailer shows
The premise is set in the first few seconds. An agent yells to get the President to “the Beast,” the armored vehicle at the center of the motorcade, and the rest of the footage plays out as one long escape from an ambush that has already destroyed the rest of the convoy.
The attack begins outside a government palace at night, with gunfire, burning wreckage, and a city square full of flames. Spain stood in for the setting during filming, and the architecture shows it.
The teaser cut
The shorter version leans on title cards. Red smoke carries Jackson’s name, the line “IS THE CHIEF,” and then the credit “FROM THE DIRECTOR OF DIE HARD 2” followed by “AND CLIFFHANGER.” Between them, the camera runs over the limousine’s switches, toggles, and green console readouts as the vehicle’s defenses are armed.
An escort truck detonates ahead of the car, a rocket strikes close enough to shake the cabin, and an attacker trying to breach a door is thrown back out into an explosion. Twin miniguns rise from behind the rear window and clear the street.
The teaser finishes with humor instead of carnage. Jackson’s bloodied agent objects to Jackson’s trademark expletive delivery, prompting Jackson to coach him on the proper pronunciation; both men then laugh. Finally, THE BEAST appears in red stencil type over the vehicle’s front grille.
The longer trailer
The extended cut opens differently. The dashboard flashes an incoming secure call marked with the Presidential Seal while the car is moving at speed, and the system asks for identification and clearance before Jackson explains that the convoy was attacked. The ambush itself then plays as a flashback.
On-screen text identifies the armored vehicle leading the motorcade as the Beast, making its nickname clear to anyone unfamiliar with it. The President then takes the driver’s seat while Taft bleeds beside him in the passenger seat, the car’s automated system starts a presidential playlist, and Jackson orders a call to the First Lady, who has yet to receive clearance to evacuate.
The weapons are all operated from a central touchscreen. The console prompts the President to use his military background, a turret deploys from the hood and fires on operatives blocking the road, and selecting miniguns from the on-screen inventory raises twin motorized barrels on the rear deck. Late in the trailer, Jackson ignores the vehicle’s own warning and steps out with an assault rifle.
It ends with Taft pulling a bottle out of the rear bar compartment and offering the President a drink. Jackson points out that he is driving, then asks for a sip anyway.
Both cuts carry unbleeped profanity, so they are not work-safe listening.
The Beast cast and characters
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Samuel L. Jackson | President of the United States |
| Joel Kinnaman | Agent Taft |
| Guy Burnet | Undisclosed |
Jackson and Kinnaman carry nearly every line in the footage, and the billing cards in the longer trailer introduce only those two names. Guy Burnet joined the cast in August 2024 without a character being named publicly.
Who made The Beast
| Role | Credit |
|---|---|
| Director | Renny Harlin |
| Writer | Umair Aleem |
| Cinematographer | Jacques Jouffret |
| Producers | Keith Kjarval, Wayne Marc Godfrey, Nicki Cortese, John Logan Pierson, Peter Berg |
| US distributor | Aura Entertainment |
The marketing sells Harlin hard, naming Die Hard 2 and Cliffhanger in the title cards rather than any of his recent work. Five production companies are attached: Unified Pictures, Bright White Light, Fifth Season, Film 44, and QWGmire.
Production timeline and release date
| Date | Milestone |
|---|---|
| September 2023 | Project announced with James Madigan directing; Jackson and Kinnaman attached |
| August 2024 | Guy Burnet joins the cast |
| October 2024 | Principal photography begins in the Canary Islands and Madrid |
| November 2024 | Renny Harlin replaces Madigan as director |
| May 2026 | Aura Entertainment acquires US rights at Cannes |
| October 9, 2026 | US theatrical release |
The director change happened mid-shoot rather than in pre-production, with Harlin stepping in as filming in Spain neared its wrap. The film then sat unsold until the 2026 Cannes market, where Aura Entertainment picked up US distribution and set the October date.
Both trailers end with the same card reading “ONLY IN THEATERS OCTOBER 9,” so a theatrical window comes first. No streaming or digital release plans have been announced, and no official showtime or ticketing on-sale date has been confirmed yet.