Synopsis: After a crash landing, a father and son explore a planet that was evacuated by humans 1,000 years earlier.
Release Date: June 7, 2013
Thoughts: The most impressive thing about this trailer is not some nice visual effects or the faint hope that Will Smith and son won’t mug their way through an entire movie. No, what impresses me most about this is the complete absence of the name of the director, M. Night Shyamalan. After his success with The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Signs, the once hot director flamed out with a growing list of absolute disasters in Hollywood due in large part to an ego the size of Texas. There was a time when Shyamalan’s name alone could be the centerpiece of a trailer but its total non-presence in this first preview for After Earth feels like a studio gun-shy about letting that particular cat out of the bag to audiences. I’m not sure how I feel about After Earth yet, not really being a fan of Shayamalan or the Family Smith…but perhaps it will be a return to form for all involved. One thing is for sure, if this is a bust the blame will fall squarely on Shyamalan’s shoulders.