Shopping for the holidays on Oxford Street might feel a bit nightmarish, but in first trailer for Mortal Engines, the capital city's vibe is full-fledged dystopia.

It shows a post-apocalyptic London — recognizable from St Paul's Cathedral and the Trafalgar Square lions — wrenched free of the ground and transformed into a mechanized, mobile monster:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fupYIggOq38

Based on Philip Reeve's best-selling novel, Mortal Engines imagines a steampunk future where sprawling metropolises thunder around and gobble up smaller towns for resources.

The whole thing looks epic, and that's no surprise given the involvement of Lord of the Rings filmmaker Peter Jackson in what will be his first outing since 2014's final installment of The Hobbit trilogy. Peter has produced and written this film, having mentored director Christian Rivers since the latter worked on his 1992 comedy horror Braindead.

The film has a formidable cast as well as some epic talent behind the camera. It stars Hera Hilmar (Da Vinci's Demons), Robert Sheehan (Fortitude) and Patrick Malahide (Game of Thrones) and both The Hobbit's Hugo Weaving and Avatar's Stephen Lang as the film's villains.

Mortal Engines is due to open in theaters a year from now, on December 14, 2018.

Are you looking forward to it?