STORY ;
In the future on a human-populated planet, Nova Prime, the S'krell alien race attempts to take it over with creatures called Ursas, which hunt by "sensing" fear. Peacekeeping organization The Ranger Corps defeat them with a fear-suppressing technique called "ghosting", but not before the Ursas kill Senshi, the daughter of the Rangers' leader Cypher Raige. Kitai, Cypher's son, blames himself for Senshi's death. He trains to become a Ranger like Cypher, but is rejected while applying. Kitai's mother Faia convinces Cypher to take Kitai on his last voyage before retirement. During flight, however, their spaceship is caught by an asteroid shower, causing them to crash-land on Earth, which the humans evacuated a thousand years ago due to an environmental cataclysm.
Both of Cypher's legs are broken, and the main beacon for firing a distress signal is damaged. Cypher instructs Kitai to locate the tail section of the ship, which broke off on entry to the atmosphere. Inside is the backup beacon, which they can use to signal Nova Prime. Cypher gives Kitai his weapon, a wrist communicator and six capsules of a fluid that enhances the oxygen intake so he can breathe in Earth's low-oxygen atmosphere. Cypher warns him to avoid the highly evolved fauna and flora and be careful of violent thermal shifts. Kitai leaves to find the tail section, with Cypher guiding him through the communicator.
Many hazards Cypher warned about get in Kitai's way, including attacks from monkeys and a venomous leech, a thermal shift, and the damaging of two of his capsules. After a story from Cypher about how he conceived "ghosting" to kill the Ursas, Kitai reaches a mountaintop and Cypher learns about the broken capsules. Knowing that the only way to make it with the two capsules would be to skydive, Cypher orders Kitai to abort the mission, but Kitai goes against the order after a monologue of him blaming Cypher's absence at home for Senshi's death. Kitai is captured by a large bird of prey and his communicator is damaged. Kitai, in the bird's nest, defends the chicks against big cats before escaping to a river, where he drifts on a raft. After a sleep where he dreams of Senshi, he wakes up to a thermal shift that nearly freezes him to death. Kitai is rescued when the bird, who had lost its brood when the cats attacked, sacrifices itself for him.
Kitai reaches the tail section and retrieves the emergency beacon, which does not activate due to the atmosphere blocking the signal. Kitai learns that the ship's Ursa escaped and killed the rest of the crew. It attacks him, but Kitai is able to kill it through the "ghost" technique he learned from Cypher. Kitai uses a volcano to fire the beacon, and he and Cypher get back to Nova Prime via a rescue team.
Will Smith conceived this story when he was watching the television show called I Shouldn't Be Alive with his brother-in-law Caleeb Pinkett. It was originally not a science fiction story but about a father and son crashing their car in the mountains or some remote region, with the son having to go out and get rescue for his father. Smith then decided to change the setting to 1000 years in the future, which imposed a higher production budget. The film was also intended to be the first in a trilogy. Smith had his production company Overbrook contact Gary Whitta (who was then known for his script for The Book of Eli) with a simple log line for a film: a father and son crash landed on Earth 1000 years after it had been abandoned by humankind. Impressed with his idea and excited about the opportunity to work with him, Whitta fleshed out Smith's idea and pitched it to him, subsequently becoming the first employee on the project.
A month after the release of The Last Airbender, Smith contacted M. Night Shyamalan on August 6, 2010, to wish him a "Happy Birthday" on his 40th birthday and also to persuade him to direct his film along with his son Jaden as the star. Smith and Shyamalan had planned to work on a film before but it never worked out. Impressed with the entire script, Shyamalan officially made this project—then entitled One Thousand A. E.—his next directorial effort on October 20, 2010, and quietly shelved his own secret untitled project with Bruce Willis, Bradley Cooper, and Gwyneth Paltrow loosely attached.There was another starring role for an adult male, but sources indicated that Smith would not be taking it on. Sony Pictures Entertainment has a first-look deal with Overbrook, so it was expected to be the studio home for A. E. Shyamalan later suggested the film would feature other members of the Smith family, and that it would not be in 3D but he had "an idea for something kind of technically interesting".
In December 2011, Columbia Pictures, a subsidiary of Sony, signed up both Will and Jaden Smith to co-star in the film with Shyamalan directing. Shyamalan, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Gary Whitta, also additionally co-produced the film with James Lassiter, Ken Stovitz, Will Smith, and Jada Pinkett Smith. Doug Belgrad, president of Columbia Pictures, made the announcement and said, "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," and added "We're thrilled to have the two of them together on this project." Shyamalan also added, "The chance to make a scary, science-fiction film starring Jaden and Will is my dream project."Will Smith's decision to take on the starring adult male role required him to step aside in producing and starring in the Hurricane Katrina drama The American Can, and offered the lead role to Denzel Washington instead. The shooting of the movie was also pushed back from September 2011 to January 2012.
On July 25, 2011, Smith travelled to Costa Rica accompanied by an entourage of about 20 people, including Shyamalan, to scout for locations to shoot the film. They visited sites like the Arenal Volcano, hot springs and a lake, and some beaches.
In September 2012, Columbia committed to a June 7, 2013 release date. Shyamalan also scouted locations in Philadelphia. Fifty percent of the filming was to take place at the new Sun Center Studios in Delaware County (Chester Township). Other locations would be in Costa Rica, Utah and Northern California.Shyamalan also visited Valley Forge Military Academy, the filming location of Taps, for research of the film, then entitled After Earth, as Jaden Smith would be playing a military cadet of the future.
The screenplay by Whitta and Shyamalan was later polished by Stephen Gaghan and Mark Boal.Jonathan Young, a psychologist and screenwriter, polished the mythic journey structure. Principal photography for After Earth began in February 2012. Much of the filming took place in Costa Rica, Humboldt County and Aston.
After Earth also became the first film from Sony to be both shot and presented in the emerging 4K digital format.It was primarily shot with Sony's CineAlta F65 camera, which was shipped in January 2012.However, a skydiving sequence required a smaller sized Canon Cinema EOS C500 4K camera mounted on the helmet of a professional skydriver.The cinematographer Peter Suschitzky who picked Sony F65 digital camera for the movie over other digital and film cameras, argued that benefits of film are lost when shown in theaters with digital projectors, as many are today.
On April 19, 2013, Shyamalan then announced that the release date had been moved a week earlier to May 31, 2013 in North America and Korea, which put it against Now You See Me and The Purge, scheduled to open in the United States in the same week. A few days later, the U.S. release of The Purge was rescheduled for June 7, 2013, taking over the slot vacated by After Earth.
On May 3, 2013, it was revealed that Korean-American singer Jay Park would be participating on the official soundtrack of the film in Korea, with a song titled "I Like 2 Party". Then on May 5, 2013, another 30-second snippet of the song was then released with another teaser and trailer.
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