Sony Pictures has released a promotional video for its upcoming sci-fi adventure film, After Earth.
Previously titled One Thousand AE, the film only began shooting in February, so there is nothing of the film itself to show yet, but Sony wanted to have something after Comic-Con, so in addition to the synopsis they revealed last week, we now also have this interesting promotional video:
Going for the facebook-timeline visuals is an interesting approach, but I‘m honestly not sure what it’s supposed to be other than familiar.
Perhaps we’ll find out in future promo material.
M. Night Shyamalan directs, while Will Smith stars along-side his son Jaden Smith, playing, you guessed it, father and son.
The pair crash land on earth a thousand years after all the humans have left, and Jaden has to find help when the crash injures his dad.
In recent years, Shyamalan’s star has faded, thanks to a lot of terrible, half-assed movies that didn’t live up to their initial premise, but this film has a big thing going for it:
Shyamalan didn’t write After Earth, it’s been penned by Gary Whitta, who also wrote the well received Book of Eli, starring Denzel Washington. Stephen Gaghan, who penned Traffic, also took a pass at the script as well, and the fact that Shyamalan didn’t write it means less possibility of a wobbly premise that won’t pay off at the end. One would assume there’s also going to be other people in the movie, but obviously Smith and Son will carry much of the film, although who knows what Jaden will run into when trying to save his dad.
Here’s that synopsis:
In After Earth, one thousand years after cataclysmic events forced humanity’s escape from Earth, Nova Prime has become mankind’s new home. Legendary General Cypher Raige (played by Will Smith) returns from an extended tour of duty to his estranged family, ready to be a father to his 13-year-old son, Kitai (played by Jaden Smith). When an asteroid storm damages Cypher and Kitai’s craft, they crash-land on a now unfamiliar and dangerous Earth. As his father lies dying in the cockpit, Kitai must trek across the hostile terrain to recover their rescue beacon. His whole life, Kitai has wanted nothing more than to be a soldier like his father. Today, he gets his chance.
It seems like there are a few very interesting concepts being touched on in this film, and it’s not going to be a twist-heavy creeper, like Shyamalan’s worst. Of course, he managed to completely ruin The Last Airbender, so I guess it’s possible for him to screw up anything. One thing I’m pretty sure of: This is the infamous director’s last chance. If he screws this up, I wouldn’t expect him to ever again be trusted with a AAA title.
After Earth is currently in production, and should hit theaters on June 13, 2013.
