News Summary: 'After Earth' ads ignore director

BOX OFFICE MYSTERY: M. Night Shyamalan, the prolific writer-director, is missing from the marketing for his latest production, "After Earth," a sci-fi film opening Friday starring Will and Jaden Smith as a father and son stranded on an untamed earth.

EARLY PROMISE: After the success of 1999's "Sixth Sense" and 2000's "Unbreakable," Shyamalan was hailed by many as the next Alfred Hitchcock, but his brand tarnished after the critical failures of his last three films.

SMELLS LIKE A BOMB: "After Earth" has so far amassed mostly bad reviews, with one critic called it "lifeless, eventless, humorless, virtually movieless."