'IO' Trailer: Anthony Mackie And Margaret Qualley Try To Escape A Toxic Earth

The latest post-apocalyptic sci-fi movie from Netflix shows a bleak vision of Earth that has been abandoned by humanity — except for two survivors. Anthony Mackie (The Hate U Give) and Margaret Qualley (Death Note) star in IO as the two final humans left on Earth after the rest of world's population has evacuated to a colony on one of Jupiter's moons, Io. But this isn't some quirky Last Man on Earth situation: the two must race against time to catch one of the final shuttles leaving the desolate planet, or else be left alone on a toxic wasteland forever.

IO follows Sam (Qualley) a young scientist who has dedicated her life to finding a way for humans to survive on Earth, resulting in her ending up alone on the toxic planet. However, after her many radio transmissions to fellow survivors on Earth fall on deaf ears, one man (Mackie) finally picks up her SOS and arrives in her small home. However, he is intent on making the last shuttle to Io, while Sam is torn whether to follow her late father's footsteps and fight for Earth's survival, or abandon it and flee the planet.

So basically IO is like WALL-E but with humans, and everything is terrible. While Mackie is the main draw for this film, Netflix is going to have to differentiate IO from the many apocalyptic movies crowding the movie market — including the slew of sci-fi films taking over the streaming service. I am intrigued by Mackie's presence, but I don't know if that would be enough to get me interested enough to move my cursor over to IO.

Directed by Jonathan Helpert from a script by Clay Jeto, Charles Spano, and Will Basanta, IO also stars Danny Huston.

Here is the official synopsis for IO:

Sam (Margaret Qualley), one of the last survivors on a post-cataclysmic Earth, is a young scientist dedicated to finding a way for humans to adapt and survive, rather than abandon their world.  But with the final shuttle scheduled to leave the planet for a distant colony, her determination to stay is rocked by the arrival of another survivor, Micah (Anthony Mackie). She must decide whether to journey with him to join the rest of humanity and begin life anew, or stay to fight for Earth's survival.

IO debuts on Netflix on January 18, 2019.