Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt saddle up in first images from 'Magnificent Seven'

WASHINGTON, April 19 (UPI) -- Denzel Washington returns to the big screen as a fearsome gunslinger opposite Chris Pratt in The Magnificent Seven from Columbia Pictures.

USA Today released the first images from the remake, which also stars Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio, South Korean actor Byung-Hun Lee, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo and Martin Sensmeier.

The images shows Washington in action as a savvy gunslinger dressed all in black, while another shows the character and his crew sitting atop horses as they watch a concerning event out of the shot.

Directed by Antoine Fuqua, the retelling of the iconic 1960 tale will follow the story of a vulnerable Mexican village in need of a team of outlaws to protect it from a deadly fate.

The original Western is itself a remake of the 1954 action film, Seven Samurai, directed by Akira Kurosawa.

"These guys are gunslingers, and when they walk into the room, you notice them," Fuqua told USA Today of the new cast. "These are people you want to be with, or you want to protect you."