Roland Emmerich's 2012 Viral - Institute for Human Continuity

2012 is an upcoming American post-apocalyptic science fiction film directed by Roland Emmerich. The film has an ensemble cast, including John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Danny Glover, Thandie Newton, Oliver Platt, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Woody Harrelson. The film will be distributed by Columbia Pictures. Filming began in August 2008 in Vancouver. 2012 is scheduled to be released on November 13, 2009.

Production

Director Roland Emmerich and composer-producer Harald Kloser co-wrote a spec script titled 2012, which was marketed to major studios in February 2008. Nearly all studios met with Emmerich and his representatives to hear the director's budget projection and story plans, a process that the director had previously gone through with the films Independence Day (1996) and The Day After Tomorrow (2004). The film was shopped around with a production budget of $200 million.Later in the month of February, Sony Pictures Entertainment won over other studios the bid for the spec script and will distribute it under Columbia Pictures. The studio plans to make the film for less than the estimated budget.

Filming was originally scheduled to begin in Los Angeles, California, in July 2008, but instead commenced in Vancouver in August 2008.Due to the possible 2008 Screen Actors Guild strike, filmmakers set up a contingency plan for salvaging the film. Sony Pictures Imageworks was hired to create visual effects for 2012.

Cast

* John Cusack as Jackson Curtis, a divorced writer who occasionally works as a limousine driver.
* Amanda Peet as Kate, Jackson's ex-wife.
* Thomas McCarthy as Gordon, Kate's current boyfriend and a plastic surgeon.
* Danny Glover as President Wilson, the President of the United States.
* Thandie Newton as Laura Wilson, the First Daughter.
* Oliver Platt as Carl Anheuser, the President's Chief of Staff.
* Chiwetel Ejiofor as Adrian Helmsley, scientific adviser to the President.
* Woody Harrelson as a man who prophesies the end of the world and is considered crazy by others. Harrelson compared his character to the mythological Greek figure Cassandra, whose predictions were dismissed.
* Ng Chin Han as Lin Pang, a worker in Tibet.
* Morgan Lily as Lilly Curtis, Jackson and Kate's daughter.

Marketing

The studio released a teaser trailer for 2012 that showed a tsunami coming over the Himalayas and interlaced a message about the world's governments not preparing its population for the end of the world. The trailer ended with a message to viewers to "find out the truth" by searching on Google for "2012". The Guardian criticized the marketing approach as "deeply flawed" since the film was not mentioned among the first few search engine results.The studio also launched a viral website published by the fictional organization Institute for Human Continuity where visitors could register for a lottery number to be part of a small population that would be rescued from global destruction.Indirect Marketing is also provided for this movie through the large amount of 2012 fearmongering sites as well as satirical sites like Geddon Gear.

Release

2012 was originally scheduled to be released on July 10, 2009. The release date was changed to November 13, 2009 to move out of the busy summer schedule into a time frame that the studio considered to have more potential for success. According to the studio, the film could have been completed for the summer release date, but the date change will give the film more time in the post-production process to complete visual effects.