MayanCalendar Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Perhaps you've seen the ominous ads for Roland Emmerich's latest disaster film, 2012. Here you can see just one example of Sony's viral campaign, which I spotted outside of my apartment building a few months ago. The Mayans warned us? Why is the URL at the bottom ThisIsTheEnd.com? Enter that into your browser, and you'll find a site "run" by one of the characters in the movie who believe the world will end in 2012, which is just what seems to be happening in Emmerich's upcoming blow-'em'-up. (Incidentally, the website looks pretty much like lots of the real 2012 websites and books out there.)

But what is 2012? Why do people – lots of people, in fact – think the world is going to end on December 21, 2012? It's a fairly popular conspiracy theory, as these things go, right up there with Nostradamus. (And definitely more popular than the guy who believes the world is run by lizard people.) Back it up and let's take an all-too-brief look at the Mayan civilization and religion and why the date 12/21/2012 has got some people nervous.

Who Were the Mayans?

The Mayans were a technologically advanced Mesoamerican culture that lived in the Yucatan Peninsula and parts of Central America. The Mayans truly flourished in the Classic period, which was around 600 years between AD 300 to AD 900. During that time, the Mayans developed a more complex social order, as well as city-states with prosperous trade. There were also plenty of impressive palaces, pyramids, and ceremonial structures, but perhaps the most significant aspect of the Mayan civilization is their discoveries about science and astronomy, which led them to develop a sophisticated series of calendars. One of those calendars just so happens to end on December 21, 2012.

In about five-and-a-half years, the world will supposedly end. Don't worry, though, because it will be a lot of fun. That is the impression I get from Nickelodeon Films, anyway. The kid-friendly division of Paramount is making an action-adventure for the whole family that is based on the idea that the apocalypse is coming in December of 2012. Called simply 2012, the movie will be about a family vacation during that fateful month when, according to the Mayan calendar, and some UFO theorists, something devastating is expected to take place. 2012 will be written by Tom Astle and Matt Ember, and it will probably be directed by Tom Dey -- all three of whom were responsible for Failure to Launch.

This is the second movie we've heard about so far that has to do with the Mayan doomsday prediction. The first is an adaptation of Whitley Streiber's upcoming book 2012: The War for Souls, which Michael Bay is making for Warner Bros. Though Nickelodeon's 2012 should be much lighter in tone, I have to assume that the whole premise will still be a bit scary for the intended audience -- unless kids these days just aren't afraid of the end of the world as much as I was (and honestly still am). According to Variety, those involved with 2012 have some time before they'll be able to get started on the movie. Currently, Astle and Ember are writing the direct-to-video spin-off Get Smarter: Bruce and Lloyd Out of Control and reportedly Dey is expected to be committing to other projects ahead of this one. The trio better not take too long, though, because they're running out of time. In only six years, either the movie will lose all relevance, or we won't be around to see it.

I hate thinking about the apocalypse. I used to have recurring nightmares about the end of the world, and despite world events seeming hopeless these days I'd like to think the end is not actually nigh. Other people, however, are happy to discuss the apparently inevitable apocalypse, as well as how it will happen and when. According to Whitley Strieber, author and alien abductee, the end of the world will come in 2012, and he has a book about it coming out in September. TMZ has the scoop that Warner Bros. already has plans to turn the book into a movie and Michael Bay has been set up to produce.

It isn't definite if Bay will also direct, but Transformers screenwriters Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci have apparently been hired to adapt it for the screen. I'll admit that I was once a big UFO buff and I even went to a Strieber book signing, but after awhile my fascination died, partially because everything was getting so depressing. Strieber, for instance, is not just now becoming apocalyptic; he was a co-author of the book that The Day After Tomorrow was based on (he also wrote the film's novelization). I know that one had nothing to do with aliens, but Strieber isn't solely known for his abduction books. He also wrote the horror novels that became Wolfen and The Hunger. There is no synopsis given for his new book, which is called 2012: The War for Souls, but supposedly some UFO theorists believe aliens will invade Earth in 2012.

However, Strieber has previously written an article about the year and our fate in it that has nothing to do with aliens. Instead it references a famous Mayan prophecy and discusses more environmental catastrophes a la The Day After Tomorrow. Whatever the plot of the book and movie, though, it is sure to make me nervous, especially if I think too much about it.

[via Hollywood Wiretap]