SDCC 2010: Sony’s ‘Battle: Los Angeles’ Impresses Even The Harshest Critic

Sony unveiled the first trailer for their upcoming gritty-realistic alien invasion film, “Battle: Los Angeles” today in Hall H after the panel for Angelina Jolie’s “Salt.” It was greeted with luke warm response and some didn’t even stay after the “Salt” panel ended. Because what can possible top Angelina Jolie? Certainly not some rinky dinky, yet-another, space invasion film… right?

Realistically, many con goers were probably unsure of what to expect, myself included until we all saw live footage which BLEW EVERYONE away.

Lucky fans who were able to make it inside the massively overcrowded Hall H, were shown an extended clip of a battle between marines and some unseen foes picking them off one by one. We don’t get to see the aliens naturally, but we do get several impressive shots of the alien ship design as well as a completely decimated Los Angeles. The clip lasted about three minutes and it wasn’t just a preview of what’s to come but an experience.

Stars of the film Aaron Echkhart and Michelle Rodriguez also appeared to meet fans, as did director Jonathan Liebesman (Darkness Falls) and producer Neal Moritz. Some of the things shot around during the panel discussion and Q&A includes:

-This is the most realistic alien invasion movie made.

-The alien designs will be all new according to Liebesman, they won’t look like Aliens (Aliens) or insects (District 9). An artist was actually specially commissioned to design them. “We designed something that had an almost a hint of biomechanical to it. And I haven’t seen anything like this before,” says Liebesman.

-The story is inspired by true events that took place in Los Angeles. From their viral site ReportThreats.org: On February 25th 1942, just after 2am, hundreds of thousands of people witnessed something in the skies above Los Angeles. US army planes scrambled to intercept, while anti-aircraft guns fired over 1,500 rounds for more than two hours. The object was never hit, then it disappeared. The president was briefed and ordered an investigation. Finally the government dismissed the incident and the story was forgotten. The truth behind these real events has never been explained.

-The film is almost like a FPS, it will tell the story from one marine’s perspective (Echkhart).

-Echkhart actually went through boot camp training with other men in preparation for the role.