The Colony Looks Like What Would Happen if Children of Men Happened in Waterworld

An astronaut whose people have long since abandoned Earth returns to a home she’s never known, determined to find a solution to their fertility issues. What she finds is that the devastated planet they left behind might be humanity’s only hope—but ensuring their survival will come at a cost.

Saban Films has released the first trailer for The Colony, a new film from co-writer Mariko Minoguchi and director and co-writer Tim Fehlbaum, executive produced by Independence Day’s Roland Emmerich. It takes place after Earth was abandoned because of climate-related disasters, which has left most of the world underwater. The colonists who escaped to another planet have found themselves unable to procreate, so a team of astronauts return to the planet in search of answers. The only survivor, Blake (Nora Arnezeder), discovers children among the planet’s inhabitants, so a previous explorer abandoned on Earth named Gibson (Iain Glen) thinks now is the time to bring their people home. But to do so would mean destroying the lives of those who’d worked so hard to survive there.

Here’s the synopsis: “Cataclysmic conditions on Earth forced a mass exodus to a distant planet. Generations later, a manned mission hurtles back to assess living conditions on the desolate, mostly submerged world. The sole survivor of the expedition is attacked by a violent band of scavengers, themselves locked in battle with a far more sinister foe. Now, mankind’s very survival depends on the bravery and ingenuity of the lone astronaut.”

The trailer looks promising, coming across like an epilogue to Waterworld where a group of colonists came back to discover what happened to the planet they’d left behind. That or Planet of the Apes, only without Charlton Heston’s monologues or Mark Wahlberg’s stunned facial expressions. The trailer is also visually impressive, especially the oversized cargo ships serving as the survivors’ homes. I’m curious to see more.

The Colony arrives in theaters and digital home release on August 27.

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