New full-length trailer for Steven Spielberg's War Horse

Having taken a break from the director's chair following 2008's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg returns to cinemas in a big way this year, kicking things off later this month with the UK release of the motion-capture spectacular The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn. Following that, Spielberg will complete his latest one-two combo with the historical drama War Horse, which has just received a brand new full-length UK trailer to go with the arrival of the official poster last week.

Adapted from Michael Morpurgo's novel and the subsequent stage play from the National Theatre by screenwriters Lee Hall (Billy Elliot) and Richard Curtis (Love Actually), War Horse stars Jeremy Irvine (Life Bites), Benedict Cumberbatch (Atonement), Tom Hiddleston (The Avengers), David Thewlis (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2), Emily Watson (Cemetery Junction), Toby Kebbell (Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time), Peter Mullan (Trainspotting) and Eddie Marsan (Sherlock Holmes). Take a look at the new trailer, and the official synopsis...

From director Steven Spielberg comes “War Horse,” an epic adventure for audiences of all ages. Set against a sweeping canvas of rural England and Europe during the First World War, “War Horse” begins with the remarkable friendship between a horse named Joey and a young man called Albert, who tames and trains him. When they are forcefully parted, the film follows the extraordinary journey of the horse as he moves through the war, changing and inspiring the lives of all those he meets—British cavalry, German soldiers, and a French farmer and his granddaughter—before the story reaches its emotional climax in the heart of No Man’s Land.

The First World War is experienced through the journey of this horse—an odyssey of joy and sorrow, passionate friendship and high adventure. “War Horse” is one of the great stories of friendship and war—a successful book, it was turned into a hugely successful international theatrical hit that is arriving on Broadway next year. It now comes to screen in an epic adaptation by one of the great directors in film history.

War Horse is released in North America on Christmas Day and arrives in the UK on January 13th, 2012.