Britt Robertson

It certainly seemed like Netflix wanted to make examples of canceling expensive series like The Get Down and Sense8, but not even comedies are safe. The streaming service’s controversial Girlboss has also been canceled after one season, despite its star pedigree.

Welcome back to another installment of Post Credits, ScreenCrush’s movie review show. On this week’s episode, ScreenCrush Editor-in-Chief Mike Sampson and Managing Editor and Film Critic Matt Singer get a fast pass to a world beyond, as they debate Brad Bird’s much-anticipated sci-fi thriller Tomorrowland, starring George Clooney and Britt Robertson.

The best argument for Tomorrowland is its release date; a week after Mad Max: Fury Road, about a world destroyed by an oil war, and a week before San Andreas, in which an apocalyptic earthquake destroys half of North America. Less a blockbuster action film than a stern but well-intentioned lecture accompanied by an elaborate audiovisual presentation, Tomorrowland argues that rampant cynicism is actively poisoning our future. People become so convinced by movies like Mad Max and San Andreas that the world is doomed that they start to believe it really is. So they give up, and dystopia becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Today, Tomorrowland director Brad Bird tweeted out this interesting video, which takes you inside the formation of Plus Ultra — what is Plus Ultra, you ask? It’s the combination of four of the greatest minds in the world, who joined forces to dedicate their lives to “the cultivation of man’s greatest resource: imagination.” The animated video, along with a new viral site, add interesting new layers to the upcoming adventure film.

In a summer filled with sequels and remakes and reboots, Tomorrowland is one of the few truly massive releases that doesn’t have a number in the title. While it may take its name from a “land” in Disney theme parks, the new trailer showcases a film that looks awfully ambitious, nutty and original. The studio’s accountants certainly see this as another avenue in strengthening the company’s theme park IP, but if all such exercises had directors like Brad Bird, the world would probably be a better place, full of more interesting movies.