“I want to believe.”
OK, now that all The X Files references are done, let’s move on.
If you’ve just watched the clip for The Phoenix Incident above, doesn’t that look really damn good? Few things in film are as good as a good alien conspiracy story, and this one is based on the true events of the Phoenix Lights sightings that occurred back in 1997. In case you’re not familiar, the Phoenix Lights event is the documented case of thousands of people in Arizona (including then-governor Fife Symington) simultaneously seeing unexplained lights in the night sky.
And so, there is the connection to The Phoenix Incident‘s writer and director, Arizona native Keith Arem. This is Arem’s film debut, but he’s a huge name in the gaming world with such credits as Call of Duty, Titanfall, Saints Row, Ghost Recon, Spiderman, Tony Hawk Pro Skater, Persona, Prince of Persia, and Rainbow Six attached to his name. Using his gaming clout, Arem handpicked such gaming voice talents as Troy Baker (BioShock Infinite, The Last Of Us, Batman: Arkham Origins, Far Cry 4) and Yuri Lowenthal (Prince of Persia, Sunset Overdrive, Dragon Age, Castlevania), both of whom worked with Arem on the Call of Duty series.
In a conversation with Deadline, Arem said:
The idea is that you will be on your phone leaving the theater, Googling the information to see if it’s real… In telling a linear film experience, we wanted to be able to create a whole world around the film.
Deadline also offered a synopsis of the movie:
[The film is] about four unsolved missing persons cases connected to the Phoenix phenomenon using whistleblower testimony, recovered military footage, and eyewitness accounts to explore the U.S. military’s alleged engagement of alien spacecrafts that night.
The Phoenix Incident, which was shot last year, is currently in the midst of a viral marketing campaign and will screen for buyers in Los Angeles next week.
We’ll definitely have our ear to the ground for this one and will let you know the details as they emerge. We’ll also avoid the Smoking Man should we hear anything about his lurking about (last X Files reference, I promise).
Rock Hard \m/
