Dec 11 2008'Day the Earth Stood Still' Playing in Alpha Centauri, 2012
As reader Joshua, who sent this in, said, if aliens aren't already planning to kill us, this may give them the motivation:
Twentieth Century Fox makes history by transmitting the first motion picture in to deep space, making The Day the Earth Stood Still the world's first galactic motion picture release. The first deliberate deep space transmission of this highly anticipated science fiction thriller will begin this Friday, December 12, 2008, to coincide with the film's opening day on Planet Earth. If any civilizations are currently orbiting Alpha Centauri, they will be able to receive and view the film approximately four years from now in the year 2012.
An industry frightened to death of illegal downloading and they're just beaming this into space willy nilly? Don't be fools! Bootlegs of this thing will be on a blanket in Alien Chinatown by approximately December 13, 2012.
To make things worse, Fox isn't content just making a lackluster, Keanu Reeves-starring sci-fi remake our official broadcast to other worlds. They're also hoping for some reviews:
Commented Twentieth Century Fox domestic distribution president Bruce Snyder: "We at Fox always like to think big, and what's bigger than a 'galactic' release of a major motion picture event? We look forward to sharing The Day the Earth Stood Still with our galactic neighbors near Alpha Centauri -- and look forward to their feedback...eight years from now."
Ooh, I get it now. This is all a scientifically-advanced ploy to bump up the film's 24% Rotten Tomatoes rating. Fox knows that if alien civilizations are anything like ours, they too probably have a Bill Goodykoontz of the Arizona Republic out there ready to say, "If you don't look at that Klaaatu character and see a bit of yourself, you're watching the wrong movie. Go into the theater ready and willing to see us aliens portrayed as wooden and preachy, sit back, and enjoy a fun one from Earth! 3 1/2 nebulon pulsars." Then The Day the Earth Stood Still is sitting pretty with a 29% just in time for the Blu-Ray 2 release.
Reader Comments
1. Aja - December 11, 2008 12:59 PM
talk about a bad idea.
we're so gonna die.
2. Nick - December 11, 2008 1:18 PM
This is possibly the gayest publicity stunt ever. I bet they don't even actually broadcast it, but just say they do.
3. thatgengirl - December 11, 2008 1:37 PM
This whole remake pisses me off. They've taken the original concept completely out of context, and turned a classic (and brilliant) movie into more anti-alien propaganda.
4. Elmo - December 11, 2008 1:48 PM
Nice, give the probably friendly aliens the big idea to kill us...
Why didn't those dumbasses send Wall-E?
5. Julian - December 11, 2008 2:02 PM
sweet, so we can expect them to get this by December of 2012. . . is it just a coincidence that the Mayan calendar says that the world will end on 12/21/2012? i guess it must be. . . but fuck you 20th century fox for trying to not prove the Mayans wrong.
6. Diesel - December 11, 2008 2:03 PM
This is brilliant. Give the rest of the galaxy proof of how idiotic we are.
7. Nick (different from #2) - December 11, 2008 2:16 PM
So let me get this straight. We're beaming a movie to a possibly populated civilization 4 light years away about how we get invaded and destroyed by aliens. Nobody sees a problem with this. I wonder if these were the same geniuses who worked for Carnival Cruises and created a massive pinata filled with candy which they planned to have smashed with a wrecking ball as people underneath are pummelled and drowned in a see of Jolly Ranchers. I think their next act should be to create fake tsunamis to advertise for the movie "2012".
8. Medications - December 11, 2008 2:53 PM
The Aliens probably wouldn't even know it's a movie, they'd just think it was footage of earth getting it's dick whipped by some other aliens, and then they'll think there's a galactic war and the universe is gonna be fucked. FOX is the biggest peice of shit company in the galaxy
9. JP - December 11, 2008 3:59 PM
LMAO. Klaatu's propaganda film ftw.
10. chuck - December 11, 2008 6:52 PM
"highly anticipated?"
really?
11. Abrian - December 11, 2008 7:44 PM
December 2012.
Isn't the day when the Mayan Calendar ends and everyone thinks its the apocalypse?
For real.
12. bah - December 11, 2008 9:36 PM
for the life of me i can't remember the source
but, the idea that radio waves of decade old programming lives on forever is pretty much untrue. they found that as distance increases, the signals are broken down so much that's it's just white noise.
so yeah, this is a huge waste of time and one of the stupidest gimmick advertising stunts i've seen since they let kids play in a giant eddie murphy head.
fuckin' fox.