Relativity’s PG summer movie ‘Earth to Echo’ opens today, blending 80s nostalgia with current-day mobile technology in a found-footage adventure made for family audiences.
Relativity’s PG summer movie Earth to Echo opens today, blending 80s nostalgia with current-day mobile technology in a found-footage adventure made for family audiences.
In the film, directed by Dave Green and written by Henry Gayden, Tuck, Munch and Alex are a trio of inseparable friends whose lives are about to change. Their neighborhood is being destroyed by a highway construction project that is forcing their families to move away. But just two days before they must part ways, the boys begin receiving a strange series of signals on their phones. Convinced something bigger is going on, they team up with another school friend, Emma, and set out to look for the source of their phone signals. What they discover is something beyond their wildest imaginations: a small alien who has become stranded on Earth. In need of their help, the four friends come together to protect the alien and help him find his way home. This journey, full of wonder and adventure, is their story, and their secret.
Developed and produced by Disney as the “Untitled Wolf Adventure” in 2012, the relatively low-budget feature -- made for $13 million -- was quietly sold to Relativity last year. The studio reportedly expended considerable resources to complete the film, spending several months on editorial work along with two to three days of reshoots. A new scene was also added in, featuring Echo breaking apart a truck as it hurtles toward some kids, and significant work was done the film's visual effects and score. (Visual effects houses Shade VFX, BEMO and Prime Focus World are credited with creating the effects for the film.)
Check out the trailers below featuring the undeniably adorable Echo, who looks like a cross between Bubo, the mechanical owl from the original Clash of the Titans, and EVE from WALL-E:
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
