M. Night Shayamalan's After Earth gets a second promising trailer.

Cautious optimism is the phrase here.  This looks good.  This looks like a solid and visually creative piece of big-budget science-fiction.  Will Smith generally doesn't make awful movies.  Jaden Smith held his own three years ago against an Oscar-worthy Jackie Chan in The Karate Kid.  And M. Night Shyamalan?  Well, one can only hope that this seemingly work-for-hire project allow him to find his groove again, especially with Will Smith in the producer's chair able and willing to tell him "no".  I know I say this a lot, but I still believe in M. Night Shyamalan.  The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable are two of the best films of the last fifteen years.  Signs is top-notch popcorn entertainment and even The Village and Lady in the Water have things worth noting (potent political subtexts and a powerful musical score in the former, a haunting Paul Giamatti performance in the other).  But come what may, even if After Earth turns out to be another miss, even if Shayamalan never makes another good movie again, so be it.  M. Night Shayamalan made The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable.  Nobody can take that away from him.  Anyway, After Earth opens on June 7th, in IMAX no less.  As always, we'll see.

Scott Mendelson

M. Night Shamalan's After Earth gets a suitably cryptic trailer.

And the pre-Hobbit trailer deluge continues... Yes, this is the second 'people roaming around desolate Earth' trailer we've seen in 72 hours, but this is still a pretty solid looking trailer.  The scale looks appropriately large, and it looks to present naturalistic images that we've never seen before.  As with the golden age of M. Night Shyamalan trailers, this gives away little about the film aside from the very basic plot.  The voice over is arguably trying to hide the fact that Jaden Smith has much more screen time than Will Smith, which makes sense from a marketing standpoint.  Jaden Smith already stood toe-to-toe with Jackie Chan in one of his finest performances, so the question now is whether Jaden Smith has the natural ability to anchor a film all by himself ala Will Smith in I Am Legend.  Of course the secondary question is which M. Night Shyamalan came to work.  If it's the guy who directed Haley Joel Osmont to an Oscar nomination, then Jaden Smith will be just fine.  If it's the guy who directed the various young performers in The Last Airbender, then there is cause to be afraid.  Yes yes, fear is a state of mind, and I still believe that the Shyamalan who directed The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable is still alive.  We'll find out for sure when After Earth opens on June 7th, 2013.  I still haven't given up on him...

Scott Mendelson

M. Night Shyamalan's After Earth gets a 'viral video'. Plus, a brief look back at classic M. Night Shyamalan teasers...

Another bit of catch-up from Comic Con weekend, this 75-second alternative history of the Earth presumably provides a bit of background exposition for Sony's summer 2013 sci-fi spectacle After Earth.  The idea of Will Smith teaming with M. Night Shyamalan is incredibly exciting, as I've written before (long story short, they are both mega-star control freaks who will hopefully temper each other's bad impulses while embracing each others' good ideas).  While I won't paste the plot exposition here for those who don't want to know, I will say that Sony has not been shy about revealing the core story-line as if it were just another science-fiction adventure film.  It's a little disheartening frankly, as I fondly remember the days when M. Night Shyamalan's films went into theaters with barely a hint or two as to what it was actually about.  Unbreakable, Signs, The Village, and Lady in the Water all had bare-bones teasers that often hid the true premise of the respective film, leaving much unknown to the ticket-buyer walking in on opening day.  Yes The Happening didn't have any story twists per-se to reveal while The Last Airbender was based on an existing television show, but I do recall a certain thrill at the intentional withholding of information following The Sixth Sense's surprising success.  They were masterclasses for selling a movie without giving away much at all, and they all retain their impact no matter what how we feel about the finished films.  Anyway, M. Night Shyamalan's After Earth opens June 7th, 2013.  Click below the jump some classic N. Night Shyamalan teasers (thanks to Trailer Addict for keeping these around).  Which one is your favorite?  For me, it's a toss-up between Unbreakable and The Village.

Scott Mendelson