The Dubai skyline takes a leading, if ill-fated, role in the new teaser trailer for the environmental disaster flick Geostorm, starring Gerard Butler.
Dubai joins other global cities including Mumbai, Moscow, Rio and Hong Kong in being battered by freak weather as the Burj Khalifa, Finance Centre etc., are tormented by what appears to be a huge tsunami sweeping ashore from the Gulf — although the CGI wizards have been somewhat creative with the city’s geography for artistic effect.
The other cities in the trailer are similarly lashed by a combination of water, wind and fire, and in poor Rio de Janeiro’s case what appears to be some kind of tsunami/ice tag team.
The movie itself has faced its fair share of bad weather. Geostorm was originally slated for an October 2016 release, but poor reactions from test screenings saw the production company bring in a new director in the shape of Judge Dredd and Gotham's Danny Cannon, for extensive reshoots, believed to have cost around US$15 million (Dh60 million).
The reshoots began in December, some two years after original director Danny Devlin, making his feature director debut. He previously served as producer on big budget disaster yarns including Roland Emmerich's Independence Day and Stargate.
Studio officials have tried to talk down the extent of the reshoots, however insiders claim that among the changesisare an entirely new, major, female scientist character and a complete recast of an existing female character, with Vikings' Katheryn Winnick stepping in. Parts of the script have also been rewritten or newly written by Shutter Island scribe Laeta Kalogridis.
Rewrites notwithstanding Butler plays hero Jake, who takes off into space to attempt to save the world from an impending, man-made, environmental catastrophe and uncovers a plot to assassinate the president while he’s there. The movie is currently slated for an October release.
