“Battle of Los Angeles” Flash Microsite

To promote the highly-anticipated alien invasion movie from South African director Jonathan Liebesman, Sony has unveiled a Flash microsite incorporating faux viral videos with “expert testimony” and “eyewitness accounts” of extraterrestrial incursions. The actual Battle of Los Angeles/Great Los Angeles Air Raid (1942) and other reported UFO sitings and encounters of the 20th century serve as the movie’s historical context and back story.

From the microsite and limited production photos, the Battle of Los Angeles looks to be set in contemporary America rather than—as I’d hoped—just before World War II. Rather than rehash Independence Day, why not let the Greatest Generation take a crack at the aliens? Would the Allies and Axis powers have joined forces to defend the Earth?

Battle of Los Angeles stars Aaron Eckhart and is scheduled for release on March 11, 2011.

Related: The movie was filmed partially in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Why use Baton Rouge as a stand-in for war-ravaged Los Angeles? Check out this New York Times article.

Photo Credit: Richard Cartwright