Bald Matt Damon stars in first trailer for Elysium

The first trailer has arrived for Neill Blomkamp's hotly-anticipated sci-fi thriller 'Elysium'... and it seems the hype could well be justified.

Blomkamp gained much respect for his 2009 debut movie 'District 9', the low-budget alien flick set in a dystopian present-day Johannesburg.

[Related story: Blomkamp talks District 9 sequel and failed Halo movie]
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Since then, he's obtained the currency to haul in stars - including a pumped up and very bald Matt Damon - to join him on his latest adventure, set in 2154.

The plot centres around a world split into two classes – the rich live on a vast space station called Elysium, while the poor remain the over-populated, poverty-stricken Earth.

Damon plays Max Coburn, who seeks to break into Elysium in order to save the Earth, but comes up against its fierce anti-immigration measures.

Foster plays Secretary Jessica Delacourt, Elysium's hard-line mayor seeking to protect the interests of the wealthy class on the sprawling floating city.

Where the Peter Jackson-produced 'District 9' cost a modest – well, modest for a sci-fi film - $30 million, 'Elysium' secured in the region of $120 million for its production budget, and judging by the looks of the trailer, it's been spent extraordinarily well.

For a while Blomkamp also worked with Jackson on the eventually aborted movie adaptation of the 'Halo' videogame. Perhaps some of that pre-production work found its way into 'Elysium'?

Also starring are 'District 9's Sharlto Copley, Wagner Moura, Alice Braga and Diego Luna.

It's due out in the UK on September 20.