Oblivion Deleted Scenes Feature An Alternate Stadium Opening
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Although Joseph Kosinski’s Oblivion was a big disappointment for many genre fans, the science fiction movie was a big step up from Kosinski’s debut film, Tron: Legacy, in 2010. Oblivion lacked personality and life, but it still managed to deliver top-notch special effects and photography. Kosinski has a great talent for capturing scenery and movement, but he has to learn how to tell an engaging story that doesn’t feel contrived and well worn. Now that Oblivion is readily available to watch at home and on the go, perhaps genre fans will look at the film in a more favorable light. Oblivion‘s Blu-ray/DVD release is packed with a good number of bonus features, including featurettes, commentary tracks, an isolated score track featuring the music of M83, and a few deleted scenes.
One of the more jaw-dropping moments of Oblivion was the reveal of Jack Harper’s (Tom Cruise) BubbleShip. Its design was very clean, pristine, and overall gorgeous to watch as it zipped in and out of clouds and over mountainsides. The deleted scene above features the BubbleShip in action.
While exploring the mysterious and unknown world, Jack Harper was injured upon his return to his partner Victoria (Andrea Riseborough) at their Sky Tower home. Although Victoria isn’t happy with Jack’s curious nature, she still mends his wounds. She uses a freaky med kit that was hardly featured in the final version of the film, but it’s sort of reminiscent of the med kit that Dr. Simon Tam (Sean Maher) used on Zoé Washburne (Gina Torres) in Joss Whedon’s Serenity, but without the foamy ooze.
The last deleted scene features an alternate opening sequence at MetLife Stadium in the Meadowlands in New Jersey. Jack is repairing a downed drone when he tracks an alien Scavenger who threatens his safety. The deleted scene also features a mysterious drawing of Jack that wasn’t used in the final version of the film. In the final cut of Oblivion, the stadium scene was more lighthearted, with Jack reminiscing about the past, when the New York Giants won the Super Bowl in 2017.
As for director Joseph Kosinski, he is currently developing a new science fiction TV series with Pacific Rim screenwriter Travis Beacham for the cable network AMC. Ballistic City takes place in a large city aboard of a traveling spaceship. The series would follow the seedy underbelly of organized crime in the space-bound city. It is described as a mix between Chinatown and Blade Runner, if it took place on Battlestar Galactica‘s colonial fleet. The series sounds very promising, as AMC has been getting into the science fiction genre of late.
While it’s unclear if Oblivion will receive a sequel, Joseph Kosinski’s science fiction film only took in $89.1 million domestically. However, it managed to gross $197 million internationally, bringing its total gross to $286.1 worldwide, against a $120 production budget. These numbers are actually pretty healthy, but the response from critics and audiences were pretty lukewarm. Perhaps Oblivion‘s home video sales will make Universal think that they might have a winner if they release Oblivion 2.
Oblivion features Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman, Olga Kurylenko, Andrea Riseborough, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and Melissa Leo. The movie is now available on Blu-ray/DVD and digital download.
