We were a little confused a few months back when it appeared that Dreamworks were releasing a sequel to the Doug Liman/Hayden Christensen sci-fi flop “Jumper.” As it turned out, it was actually the trailer for a film called “I Am Number Four,” an adaptation of the young adult novel by Oprah nemesis James Frey and co-writer Jobie Hughes, about an exiled alien, the titular number four, on the run from the rival extraterrestrial race that wiped out his people.
The film’s release date is drawing closer, and a full trailer has debuted over at Yahoo. While it doesn’t look quite so much like Liman’s film now, they’re clearly try to milk the parallels with “Twilight” for all they’re worth — the grey Pacific Northwest setting; the girl who seems to constantly be putting herself in danger; the dark-clad antagonists who turn up in town to cause havoc; the stilted line readings.
But being an alien, our valiant lead (British actor Alex Pettyfer) has special powers, so there’s a faint superhero movie vibe, and the second half of the trailer promises at least a little more action than “Twilight.” We’re clearly not the target audience for this one, but even so, it looks pretty weak — other than the slumming-it presence of Timothy Olyphant (who replaced Sharlto Copley, who was allegedly insisting on playing the role with pointy ears), there’s all kinds of unintentional hilarity here.
It’s hard to pick our favorite moment, but the scrapbook kept by love interest Dianna Agron that makes her out to be John Doe from “Seven,” the backwards somersault off the waterfall, or the late introduction of a badass fellow alien (Teresa Palmer) who looks IDENTICAL to the other female character, are all contenders. Although nothing’s quite as funny as the continued comparisons between the film and “Rebel Without A Cause” by director D.J. Caruso.
Not everyone’s as amused as we are, however — according to Deadline, Jon Favreau believes that the recently unveiled one-sheet for “I Am Number Four” bears too close a resemblance to that of his film “Cowboys & Aliens” — which is particularly odd, as Dreamworks have a hand in both films,. However, a second one-sheet for Caruso’s film has been unveiled, which will apparently make up the bulk of the campaign.
The film hits theaters on February 18th, 2011, and the good news for those of you who like your derivative sci-fi fare projected onto screens the size of an aircraft hanger, is that it was recently announced that the film would receive an IMAX release, along with the studio’s Hugh Jackman-toplining robot boxing movie “Real Steel,” when that hits in October.
Another thing I’d like to add is everyone is forgetting this director brought us hits like Disturbia and Eagle Eye!!! Whatever you thought of thoes films he did a fantastic job with the direction in thoes movies and stuck really close to the character development instead of just the action. Plus lets not forget thoes movies did awesome in the boxoffice so putting D.J Caruso at the head of this project was a very wise choice!! Not to mention the cast of new faces and upcomers along with some well known veterans and with the aid of both Steven Speildberg and Michael Bay is sure this film to succeed whether people want it to or not. And this isn’t just me being too optimistic (cuz I obviously know however I AM NUMBER FOUR does in theatres can go either way), this is what’s going to grab audiences’ attentiion (and hopefully get them interested in the books, yes there’s gonna be more than 1 book). So for thoes of you judging the picture by a few scenes in a collaberation of clips I hope you realize how misleading this trailer is cuz I can tell you right now that what your seeing isn’t even close to what the entire story is about!! If you’re curious I suggest again pick up the book and find out for yourself!! This is absolutely NOTHING LIKE TWILIGHT!!!
Couldn\’t agree more with this article. It\’s being compared to Twilight because that is exactly what studio executives want it to be, while also caring less for the lackluster source material. You can throw this on the pile of other vapid films based off of unimaginative young adult/fantasy novels including The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising, Golden Compass, Eragon, ect… This film is right up there with other throw-away films such as Jumper, Twilight, and sadley even X-Men 3… Or even Wolverine! Remeber the 2006 bomb The Covenant? Neither do I… But this film falls along those lines of potential box office failures.
Yes, I\’ve read the book. More prescribed Young Adult nonsense. Sorry…
I know people that blog at IndieWire aren\’t real journalists, but this takes the cake. Do you actually know anything about this movie while you are busy comparing it to Twilight, easily one of the least apt comparisons I have ever seen applied to a movie? Have you bothered to do any research beyond watching a two minute trailer? Don\’t answer, the truth is already obvious. You just like to show how cleaver you are by being snarky on the Internet. May favorite, since you didn\’t ask, is the \”grey Pacific Northwest setting.\” The film takes place in Ohio and was filmed in Pennsylvania. So I guess that geography is just one more thing that you aren\’t good at.
If you\’d read the book you\’d know that observation lacks accuracy. I AM NUMBER FOUR is NOTHING like that grabage twilight francise!!! Twilight is about two pathetic moody teenagers who can\’t live without each other, this is about a teenage alien with a destiny on the run from badguys that want to kill him and he just happens to fall in love with a human along the way. It\’s also about his relationship with his mentor as well as his human friends Sam and Sarah\’s ex-boyfriend Mark (who is his rival at first). Think more like UNDERWORLD meets THE BOURNE IDENTITY. But above all else don\’t make a snap judgment based on a 2 minute and 30 second clip:/ Above all else READ THE BOOK and I can tell you right now there is nothing romotely anything to do with twilight!! the only similarity is human girl falls in love with supernatural guy, like that hasn\’t been done before twilight, really:/ BUFFY, DRACULA & ROSWELL anyone?