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Buried in the incredibly busy Saturday schedule for San Diego Comic-Con 2012 is a panel concerning M. Night Shyamalan‘s latest film, After Earth. The sci-fi film, which stars Will and Jaden Smith, seems like a natural fit for Comic-Con, but neither the director or its two leads will be in attendance.
Instead, the panel will be in a medium sized room. It will feature the screenwriter and director of photography, and focus more on the comic books designed to accompany the film than it will on the movie itself. Seems like an odd approach but, in this reveal, we do get the first official plot synopsis of the movie. Most of the information has been rumored before but now it’s official. Check it out below.
Here’s the official plot description of After Earth from the San Diego Comic-Con website (via JoBlo for the idea). Beware that it contains what are likely spoilers.
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.
So it seems like Will’s character is definitely the second lead of the film and that it’s Jaden’s movie more than his Dad’s.
In case you didn’t read it before, here’s what the panel itself will entail:
Enter the world of After Earth with an in-depth panel that gives you a behind-the-scenes look at the universe of the upcoming film and comic book. With the film now in post-production and set to hit theaters next June, screenwriter Gary Whitta (Book of Eli) and director of photography Peter Suschitzky (The Empire Strikes Back) will discuss the making of the film. They will be joined by comic book artist Beni Lobel (Spanish horror comic anthology Cthulu; G.I. Joe comic books; Torchwood: Web of Lies motion comic), and writers Robert Greenberger (Iron Man, Batman, and Hellboy novels) and Michael Friedman(Star Trek and X-Men novels) — the creators of the comic book After Earth: Innocence, which will introduce Kitai and Cypher Raige (played by Jaden and Will Smith in the After Earth film). Also joining the panel is Eisner Award winner Peter David (Star Trek novels and comic books; The Incredible Hulk), who is writing the After Earth prequel novel and also created theAfter Earth bible with Greenberger and Friedman.
You can be sure this panel is well on /Film’s radar and we’ll have someone there to get all the dirt come July 14. Until then, are you excited for After Earth?
