This isn’t exactly surprising news considering back in October it was announced M. Night Shyamalan would be directing a film titled One Thousand A.E. with a script from Gary Whitta (The Book of Eli) and starring Jaden Smith. However, at that time it wasn’t clear what the plot synopsis was and while Jaden’s father, Will Smith and his Overbrook production company would be producing the feature, it was assumed Big Willie wouldn’t be taking the supposed adult male lead role. Well, that’s all changed.
Today Columbia Pictures issued a press release saying Shyamalan would be directing both Will and Jaden Smith in the picture which is set 1,000 years into the future, where a young boy navigates an abandoned and sometimes scary Earth to save himself and his estranged father after their ship crashes. The release also cites Shyamalan as a co-writer on the project with Whitta.
Doug Belgrad, president of Columbia Pictures, was quoted saying, “Night is an outstanding filmmaker who has a tremendous vision for this science-fiction adventure story and we couldn’t be more excited to be working again with Jaden after our experiences on The Pursuit of Happyness and The Karate Kid. We’re thrilled to have the two of them together on this project.”
Shyamalan added, “The chance to make a scary, science-fiction film starring Jaden and Will is my dream project.”
This should be a fascinating experiment considering the decline of Shyamalan’s star since breaking out with The Sixth Sense in 1999 to the massive hatred he received for his The Last Airbender adaptation last year, a film that despite that hatred went on to gross $319 million worldwide. Combine that with the box-office gold that Will Smith has been in the past and you have something of a paradox.
Between then and now the only film on Will Smith’s docket is the troubled and delayed Men in Black III. One Thousand A.E., however, will serve as Jaden Smith’s follow-up to The Karate Kid which made a whopping $359 million worldwide last year. The father and son duo last starred together in The Pursuit of Happyness in 2006.
