20th Century Fox exploring new frontiers

... by becoming the first company to transmit a movie to deep space (at least, deliberately). The Day the Earth Stood Still will be sent into space starting Friday, at the same time it opens in theaters. Said president of domestic distribution 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."

The movie would reach any intelligent life near Alpha Centauri in 2012, after which we could presumably receive a transmission of their review back. Here's a link to the story:

http://www.worstpreviews.com/headline.php?id=11199&count=0

Does anyone else find it supremely ironic that the first movie to be deliberately transmitted to potential other civilizations is about the destruction of our own?

I think it's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Ironic yes, but really stupid. They are actually wasting money on this?

Pretty much my thoughts exactly. Maybe they're hoping they can recoup all the losses from their terrible year with... intergalactic revenue? I dunno, that's too funny NOT to get an lol.

Hey, who knows how much gold-pressed latinum that movie will earn? I'm sure the film will be a big hit on Keanu Reeves' home planet of Whoa-rax.

oh my shit... if aliens come and destroy earth, i blame Keanu

Actually, I don't think that this is the first time that this has happened. Do the Scientologists do this all the time? I mean, they do claim that we are all aliens.

And of course we're assuming that intelligent life out there would interpret the movie as, well, entertainment and not as a documentary. Or a threat (try to f*ck with our planet and this is what you'll get). Or an 'open for business' sign. Or that they'll even have the means of translating our language into whatever form they use.

I seriously doubt that if this is the first time they see something from Earth they'll be able to translate it. They'd need a "Rosetta Stone" or much more data (i.e. more broadcasts in English) to figure this out. I just figure that if they had capabilities to get here, they'd be here already.

I am with Geez on this one - thats the fucking dumbest thing I have ever heard. Lord help us if the first thing that other worlds see of us is Keanu in the hands of Scott Derrickson. We're doomed.

Are you people actually going with the idea that some other intelligent being is actually going to receive this??? We might be in more trouble than I thought. I'm not saying there id no intelligent life out there, but for anything to pick up this signal, its about a one in a billion shot. Let alone be able to play it, translate it, and have any way of comprehending it. It's so stupid

No, I don't think we're agreeing with plausibility. I can't speak for everyone, but to me, this just seems so ridiculous that all these comments are just poking further holes in the logic behind doing it to confirm that it's a bad idea.

When I read the title of this thread, I thought Fox were going to explore new frontiers by, you know, making good movies for once.

Sending any movie into space is a ridiculous idea, but sending a steaming turd of a movie into space is a global embarrassment.

On the story page I linked to, I think one of the comments was something to the effect of "why send THIS? We should at least send something like The Dark Knight first!" I agree with you, numbersix; Keanu is kind of a global embarrassment.

Well maybe is we send this film and the alien invaders see that this is how we spend a good portion of the money and time we have they won't feel we are a threat.

Kind of like when the special ed kid throws an orange at your head you just laugh and say "Kooky special ed kid" but if a jock threw it you would have a fight.

Keanu Reeves and this movie makes us look like a special ed planet and thus less likely to get invaded. Brilliant thinking on their part. Bravo!

So all the aliens are gonna think the best we can do is Keanu Reeves..... Maybe its all a ploy, and the aliens will think us all to be of Keanu's talent and so pointless to try and conquer. I mean, what is the point of attacking a planet which hails Keanu. We should at least we promoting a good movie like Star Wars (scare the shit out of them too with Darth Vader) and some decent actors like Jack Nicholson in The Shining. Then they would be shitting their pants. With this they would just laugh at us.

All I can think about while reading this was Galaxy Quest.

Donte77 wrote:Well maybe is we send this film and the alien invaders see that this is how we spend a good portion of the money and time we have they won't feel we are a threat.

Kind of like when the special ed kid throws an orange at your head you just laugh and say "Kooky special ed kid" but if a jock threw it you would have a fight.

Keanu Reeves and this movie makes us look like a special ed planet and thus less likely to get invaded. Brilliant thinking on their part. Bravo!

I'm with Donte. This is the best way to keep aliens from coming here. I'm pretty sure if we picked up a broadcast from an alien planet that was this level of crap, that it's the last place we'd consider visiting. Oh wait, what was I thinking. We keep losing Mars landers. We're not going anywhere anytime soon.

Keyser Soze wrote: We keep losing Mars landers. We're not going anywhere anytime soon.

We are the retarded kid chained in the dungeon of the universe.

I am so proud.

Maybe they're sending it to Keanu's home planet to let them know that phase one of the invasion has taken effect.

That's the most intelligent thing I've heard since this thread started stan

I mean...it's a terrible stupid idea in itself, yeah. But, hey! Publicity is publicity. What American wants to be the only one who hasn't seen the first movie ever to be available to intergalactic audiences? Not me, that's for damn sure.

Just finished reading the review in our local paper, and boy did they trash this film. It got one star out of four, and most of their points seemed pretty valid. They paired the review with a comparison to the original, and after reading the differences, you have to wonder why they even made this flick. The scariest part was a mention that the director is currently in discussions to do a re-make of The Birds

We received some equipment upgrades for our DLPs at work yesterday, and the guy who signed for the package said, "ooh, is this so we can broadcast The Day The Earth Stood Still to space?"

I just shook my head.

Keyser Soze wrote:Just finished reading the review in our local paper, and boy did they trash this film. It got one star out of four, and most of their points seemed pretty valid. They paired the review with a comparison to the original, and after reading the differences, you have to wonder why they even made this flick. The scariest part was a mention that the director is currently in discussions to do a re-make of The Birds

I thought the director of Casino Royale was doing the remake of The Birds.

I'd suspected as much for years, and now I'm sure: Rupert Murdoch is out to kill us all. If ANYTHING will inspire otherwise mild-mannered, or at least deeply apathetic, aliens to take notice of our species and undertake a course of action that will erase us utterly from the space-time continuum, it's being on the receiving end of that fantastically, colossally, profanely stupid film. Keanu Reeves isn't "the one," he's THE END -- the herald, the harbinger, the heavenly trump signalling our imminent doom.

With luck, the universe's thoroughly understandable reprisal for this provocation will be immediate and irrevocable. Our gargantuan idiocy, perfectly concentrated within the boundaries of that 103-minute orgasm of ignorance, is a threat to all life forms, and it must be removed, not merely contained. It can't happen swiftly enough.


"Oh, thank God."