Oblivion trailer maintains the ruins

Universal Studios has released the first trailer for its post-apocalyptic sci-fi film.

2075, 60 years after a failed alien invasion which left the world in partially terraformed ruins, the world is populated mostly by clones of those long-dead. A small team serves on a platform in the sky, working thanklessly to keep the satellite drones, upon which the world now relies, maintained.

That’s where Oblivion, one of the few original stories coming out of Hollywood right now, starts off. As a project, it was originally purchased by Disney, but they waited too long to start production and the rights eventually got picked up by Universal Studios.

Being that it is an original story, it’s tough to know anything about the film that isn’t in the press material, but we finally have this enigmatic trailer:

There are some rather trite tension techniques there, which is a little worrisome, but might very well be due to the fact this particular style is currently popular. It’s Tom Cruise after all, even if the film is terrible, it will at least see a good opening weekend if just for the star’s power.

This poster was also released along with the trailer.

The official synopsis is thus:

Jack Harper (Cruise) is one of the last few drone repairmen stationed on Earth.  Part of a massive operation to extract vital resources after decades of war with a terrifying threat known as the Scavs, Jack’s mission is nearly complete.

Living in and patrolling the breathtaking skies from thousands of feet above, his soaring existence is brought crashing down when he rescues a beautiful stranger from a downed spacecraft.  Her arrival triggers a chain of events that forces him to question everything he knows and puts the fate of humanity in his hands.

A tie-in graphic novel was under production when Disney was running the film, but nothing has been heard about that since the film changed hands, and it may no longer be part of the plan.

Oblivion, which also stars Olga Kurylenko, Morgan Freeman, and Andrea Riseborough, is slated to hit IMAX theaters on April 12th, 2013 and all other theaters a week later.