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Feature trailer for The Space Between Us, starring Britt Robertson, Carla Gugino, Asa Butterfield and Gary Oldman.
The first human born on Mars travels to Earth for the first time, experiencing the wonders of the planet through fresh eyes. He embarks on an adventure with a street smart girl to discover how he came to be.
If one was to look into all the work put into this sci-fi romance, they would see the studio Relativity Media stamped all over this thing. They took care of the development, purchased the script and hired the director. The studio even found the film its star with Asa Butterfield. Things were looking on the up and up, until Relativity ran out of money and began working to satisfy their creditors.
In order to keep the debt collectors off their back, the studio sold the project to STX Entertainment, who would both produce and distribute. While it looked like the sale might result in some sort of production hiatus, STX was quick to hire Carla Gugino, Gary Oldman and Britt Robertson only a couple weeks after acquisition.
And while this original genre-blender story might sound like a risk to STX, the studio is feeling pretty confident after the box office success of Bad Moms. The women-targeted comedy did just short of $160 million in ticket sales off a budget of $20 million. So yes, STX currently has a bit of money to spare. But that doesn't make them stupid.
After moving The Space Between Us back from August to December 21st, the studio immediately recognized a problem. They were (accidentally) pitting Asa Butterfield and Britt Robertson against Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Patt. Asa and Britt had no chance, especially considering Passengers, also due out on December 21st, was classified under the same genre -- sci-fi romance. STX quickly compensated by shifting their film's theatrical release date up five days.
The latest trailer for The Space Between Us is exactly as we'd expect it to be -- cute. While the first trailer for the film focused mostly on the possibility of a relationship between Butterfield and Robertson, the latest preview provides some added focus on the protagonist's search for his father. So there are definitely a couple additional story arcs other than boy meets girl. Hopefully adding a bit more complexity than just a teenage sci-fi romp.
I attempted to discover the film's budget, as the visuals are surprisingly impressive, but was unable to do so. The assumption is that STX accomplished a lot visually on a minimal budget. In that regard, job well done.
Going back to the story, there is nothing here that will have me racing to the theaters. Teenagers, however, will be out of school enjoying winter break, and that's exactly the audience that STX is hoping to reach.