A couple days ago, Twentieth Century Fox released a three-minute clip as a sort of mini-prologue to Ridley Scott’s PROMETHEUS. No word yet if this is a clip from the movie itself, or just a standalone short — though it looks to be self-contained, and my guess is it’s not movie footage but was made especially for promotional purposes.

In the clip, we see a man (Guy Pearce; MEMENTO) who identifies himself as Peter Weyland (yes, that Weyland, one-half of the namesake of Weyland-Yutani Corporation that was responsible for extrasolar colonization and that funded the missions to extract living xenomorph specimens in ALIEN) speaking to a crowd of thousands at the 2023 TED (Technology, Entertainment, and Design) Talks. What he says gives context for the movie’s title and sets a foreboding tone for what’s to come.

Considering this is the first footage we’ve seen since the short, pounding teaser trailer, it’s hard to know what to make of this clip yet. The TED Talks are a real-life event on Earth, but the footage in the teaser appears to take place entirely off-world. Will the movie be split between Earth and space? Will it use elements of both truth and fiction? Either way, it’s shaping up to be brilliant; but then, from the man who directed ALIEN and BLADE RUNNER, I’d expect no less.

The video comes accompanied by a promotional website for the fictional Weyland Industries, which suggests that new details and clips might be posted there in the coming months.

All will be revealed when PROMETHEUS hits theaters June 8th 2012.