Despite consistently putting out products that many deem should have broken his career, M. Night Shyamalan still continues to make new movies. His latest is a collaboration with Will Smith and son Jaden Smith, one written by Gary Whitta (THE BOOK OF ELI) and titled AFTER EARTH. Now, AFTER EARTH is set to appear at Comic-Con next weekend, and included in the panel description was a plot for the up-until-now secretive movie. There are of course a few spoilers here, so be forewarned.
“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’s an interesting touch to have Will Smith playing a character who, according to the above description alone, is sidelined for most of the movie while his son goes off on the main adventure. I’m sure there will be more to it than that, but it this development certainly provides some food for thought.
And for those of you who will be at Comic-Con: “The SDCC panel will include the film’s screenwriter Gary Whitta and cinematographer Peter Suschitzky, as well as the team behind the tie-in comic book After Earth: Innocence, artist Beni Lobel and writers Robert Greenberger and Michael Friedman. Peter David, author of the After Earth prequel novel, will also be there.”
I just have to know – what are M. Night and Will Smith saying here?
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