Apocalypse films have been a fixture on the big screen circuit for a good few years now, but they’ve always been on the serious side of the spectrum. This Is The End, however, is one of two comedy end-of-the-world movies set for release in 2013, with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost’s The World’s End also due out later this year.
It was hard to call the film from the look of the trailer, which is laced with comedy heavyweights like Jonah Hill (Get Him To The Greek), Seph Rogan (The Green Hornet) and Danny McBride (Your Highness). However, you can find out more about our take on the movie at out This Is The End DVD review, which covers how close the guys for to saving up enough funny moments for the movie itself to make the film work.
Set in Hollywood it follows fictional versions of Rogan, McBride, Hill and James Franco (Your Highness) as they face up against the onset of the end of the world. Pineapple Express’ Craig Robinson and Knocked Up’s Jay Baruchel also get ripped along for the apocalyptic ride with the addition of cameos from Michael Cera (who’s clearly a gonner early on in the film), Emma Watson and Rhianna.
This Is The End clearly went for the summer box office comedy hit slot, with its release date on the 12th June 2013, and with so many big names and a cast-as-characters concept it looked like it could pull it off. The end of the world sequence acts as a pretty good backdrop to the comedy dialogue that includes Danny McBride referring to Emma Watson’s mugging efforts as “Hermione stole all our sh*t”.
There’s also a good level of both special effects and spoof mentality to This Is The End, which features fire pitted sink holes, alien invasion-style beans of light and crazed beast attacks.
Seth Rogan gets writer credits for the movie too with Evan Goldburg and Jason Stone, as well as one of the director chairs with Goldburg, who he previously worked with on Knocked Up, Superbad, Pineapple Express, Funny People, The Green Hornet and 50/50.
