M. Night Shyamalan may have begun his career with both critical and commercial success, but in the last half decade or so, universal praise has largely escaped him. The Happening, The Last Airbender and several others put a big dent in his reputation among fans, but until recently, he still managed to frequently pull in impressive box office numbers. His most recent feature After Earth, initially seemed promising with longtime A-list actor Will Smith and his son Jaden Smith signed on for the action adventure flick set 1,000 years in the future. Even with that stor power, however, the movie came and went in theaters in the blink of an eye without blowing many people away. Now Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is hoping to bring in some added cash flow from Blu-ray, DVD and Digital sales. Maybe an impressive amount of revenue will be generated. Maybe it’ll once again disappoint domestically. Either way, the studio will know pretty quickly as fans will be able to start buying copies on October 8.
Gary Whitta wrote the script for the film, which follows a young man named Kitai (Jaden Smith) and his father, Cypher (Will Smith), after they crash land on Earth years from now. Earth has evolved to become hostile over the years and when Cypher breaks his legs in the crash, he must rely on Kitai’s energy and perseverance to help them survive on the planet through good times and bad. You would think that the “hostile Earth” idea would have been a little laughable when pitched, but someone liked it, the movie was made, and it ended up making decent money worldwide.
If you are still on the M. Night Shyamalan bandwagon—apparently, such a thing does still exist--the After Earth release may be a good film to add to your collection. Fans of the director or the film will find a decent array of bonus features with both the Blu-ray and DVD sets of the film, although Blu-ray copies will come with a few additional featurettes. The big highlight with the set is a “never-before-seen” version of the opening sequence of the film, which should be interesting, provided it varies plenty from the theatrical opening sequence.
Other featurettes focus on the look of the film, as well as the world building. Shockingly, there are no deleted scenes and Shyamalan opted to avoid audio commentary with the set, so if you do enjoy those sorts of extras, you are out of luck this time. You can check out the full list of bonus features, below, or pre-order the set over at Amazon.
After Earth DVD Extras
- “A Father’s Legacy” featurette – Will and Jaden Smith on and off screen
- “1,000 Years in 300 Seconds” featurette – On Location with the Cast
- “The Nature of the Future” featurette – A look at the landscapes and creatures
- XPRIZE After Earth Robotics Challenge winning video
After Earth Blu-ray Extras
- All of the DVD extras
- A Never-Before-Seen Version of the Film’s Opening Sequence
- “Building a World” featurette – A glimpse into the creation of the After Earth universe
- “Pre-Visualizing the Future” featurette
- “The Animatics of After Earth” featurette – Never-before-seen storyboards
