Aubrey Peeples Stars in First Jem and the Holograms Trailer

Posted on May 13, 2015

The first trailer has hit for the live action feature film version of the 80s cartoon Jem and the Holograms. Aubrey Peeples stars as Jerrica Benson, a young woman who writes her own music, but hates performing on camera.

Jerrica lives with her aunt (Molly Ringwald) and her sisters who also are musicians. She thinks her life is really boring. She says in the voiceover, "I, Jerrica Benson, am living the most unexceptional life. … At some point we all wish we could become someone else." Jerrica is about to get her wish. Her sister Kimber (Stefanie Scott) records Jerrica singing one of her songs and uploads it to Youtube. The song is a hit and a giant record company wants to sign them.

Enter Juliette Lewis, a record executive named Erica with no moral compass (is there any other kind?) She changes the girls' looks and renames Jerrica as Jem. The band is a hit, but that's not good enough for the scheming Erica. She convinces Jem to dump the band and be a solo act. This causes a major rit in the family and creates an ethical dilemma for young Jem.

We're a bit confused by this trailer. The cartoon was about Jerrica Benton, who owned Starlight Music. She lived a double life in which she was also the lead singer of Jem and the Holograms. She used her super computer to generate a hologram to disguise her real identity and her sisters. They had lots of adventures. This trailer had no holograms, no cutting edge technology that we can see. And Jerrica is just a shy teenager. Fans of the series are not going to be happy about this.

The film was directed by Jon M. Chu (G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Justin Bieber: Never Say Never). Scooter Braun produced. Aurora Perrineau, Hayley Kiyoko and Ryan Guzman also star in the film which will hit theaters on October 23, 2015. Take a look: