High-purity AIPt thin films prepared by self-propagating, high temperature combustion synthesis show evidence for a new rhombohedral phase. Sputter deposited Al/Pt multilayers of various designs are reacted at different rates in air and in vacuum, and each form a new trigonal/hexagonal aluminide phase with unit cell parameters a = 15.57(8) (angstrom), c = 5.304 (1) (angstrom), space group R-3 (148), and Z, the number of formula units within a unit cell, =39. The lattice is isotructural to that of the AIPd R-3 lattice as reported by Matkovic and Schubert (Matkovic, 1997). Reacted films have a random in-plane crystallographic texture, a modest out-of-plane (001) texture, and equiaxed grains with dimensions on the order of film thickness.