Asteroid Clara: The Director's Cut

Asteroid Clara: The Director's Cut is a 2026 Japanese-Philippine disaster drama film co-produced by Toho and GMA Pictures. It is a heavily re-edited version of the 2020 film #JusticeForLove: End of the World''.

Directed by Gina Alajar, and starring Rebecca Rittenhouse, Max Collins, and Yasmien Kurdi, the film's story focuses on the discovery of a 10-kilometer asteroid on a collision course with Earth, and a depressed woman's attempt to reunite with her mother in Manila before the inevitable end of mankind.

First conceptualized in 2013 following the Chelyabinsk meteor event, the film was adapted from the screenplay of The Last War, and inspired by the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, also incorporating elements from the Philippine drama genre.

With the upcoming release of the American remake of #JusticeForLove: End of the World on December 25, 2026, along with dissatisfaction from Rebecca Rittenhouse and Gabriella Wilde regarding their characters in the film, Toho decided to release a revised version to be released jointly alongside the American remake.

The film was given a limited theatrical release on November 3, 2026, coinciding Godzilla's 72nd anniversary, and was followed by an international release on home media as a double-feature with the American remake.

Plot
The film begins in 1984, when two paleontologists had discovered that extinction events in Earth's history has been occurring periodically, while a NASA scientist warned that the planet is unprepared for any asteroid impact event. The film then cuts to an introductory sequence depicting the technological advancement of mankind along with timelapse shots of human civilization.

In present day San Francisco, Alicia Salvacion begins to suffer from depression after losing her husband and her newborn baby in a streetcar accident, and attempts to commit suicide at the Golden Gate Bridge. She is rescued by Mylene Concepcion, that arrived in the city only to reunite with her younger sister, Andrea. Mylene promises to help Alicia recover from her depression, which resulted in the two becoming friends.

Meanwhile, astronomer Clara Young is studying near-Earth objects at an observatory when one night, an unidentified object is discovered, which turns out to be an asteroid. She spends the next three days for additional observations, and after discovering the asteroid's calculated orbit, she realizes that the object is 10-kilometers wide, and is on a collision course with Earth, large enough to trigger an extinction-level event.

Young informs the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) regarding her discovery, and the object is given the provisional designation "2020 NA" by the Minor Planet Center, while other astronomers began calling the asteroid after its discoverer. Rather than announcing the threat, the United States government decided to conceal the asteroid's existence to the public, due to high anticipation for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

In Tokyo, a small asteroid fragment destroys a large portion of the city and forcing the 2020 Olympics to be cancelled. Young discovers that smaller fragments were responsible, and insists that the world should be informed regarding the threat, but the government still refuses to reveal the impending doom by assuring the destruction of Tokyo was an isolated incident.

Andrea realizes that she's in danger after she discovers that her fiancé, Gregorio, is involved in organized crime throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, and attempts to warn Mylene. Gregorio threatens Andrea of killing Mylene if she attempts to escape from him. For the safety of her own sister, Andrea is forced to agree Gregorio's condition of staying with him.

Alicia begins to experience frequent headache and dizziness, and at one point losing consciousness. Lorraine "Lori" Jones, a renowned investigator and one of Alicia's friends, decides to bring Alicia to a hospital, in which she is diagnosed with internal bleeding in her brain, and has only less than a year left to live. Alicia considers about returning to Manila to reunite with her mother, Romina, and spend her last few months there.

Following a failed attempt to rescue Andrea from Gregorio, Mylene's friend Olivia Imperial was murdered in an attempt to frame Mylene. The next day, Mylene is arrested, while Gregorio finally escapes San Francisco. Realizing that Mylene is in the same situation that she experienced before, Alicia is forced to stay in San Francisco to help Mylene clear her name, with additional support from Lori.

Young discovers another asteroid fragment, which is projected to impact somewhere in Northern California. She attempts to warn the citizens of the San Francisco Bay Area, but the government prohibited her from making any public appearances. As a result, she is unable to warn people regarding the impending disaster. The object then impacts San Francisco, levelling most of the Bay Area and killing Andrea in the process.

At the same time, Mylene's court trial finally takes place in Sacramento, in which Mylene is acquitted for murder and proven innocent. However, Mylene is later informed regarding her sister's death in San Francisco, and mourns her death in Sacramento. Afterwards, Mylene begins to notice Alicia's worsening health condition, and she finally discovers Alicia's internal bleeding in her brain.

However, Alicia's remaining life is reduced from 7 months to only 2 months, forcing her to finally return to the Philippines with Romina's sister Corazon, to spend her remaining time with her mother, but it is too late, as Alicia and Corazon find out that Romina had already died only a few hours before their arrival in Manila.

With the asteroid becoming visible to the naked eye and the destruction of San Francisco from another fragment, the United Nations finally reveals the asteroid's existence to the public. The United States government makes a public apology to Young, also announcing their plan on deflecting the asteroid by launching intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) together with Russia.

Mylene decides to stay in Sacramento with her husband and son, while Lori listens to Jessica's advice of abandoning her investigation. Young returns on making public appearances on television as the discoverer of the asteroid. In Manila, Alicia begins to blame Mylene for her mother's death, and immediately regrets her decision to stay in San Francisco.

On October 5, approximately five days before impact, the ICBMs were launched, but failed to deflect the asteroid, which remains on a collision course with Earth. The government announces the failure of the mission in an emergency broadcast, while Young announces the asteroid's final trajectory, which shows that the asteroid will impact somewhere in western Europe on October 10.

Around the globe, society quickly breaks down as widespread panic occurs. Meanwhile, Alicia's health condition continues to worsen, and realizing the end of mankind is now inevitable, Alicia finally accepts her ultimate fate, and decides to visit some of her former relatives for the last time, including her ex-husband Nathan, now married to Lynette, and her supportive best friend Eileen, now promoted to a hotel manager in Baguio City.

Young, Alicia, and Mylene all spend their final moments on Earth before the global firestorm could reach them. Young is dismayed, despite years of studying asteroids, mankind had failed to prevent the incoming catastrophe, and is now about to meet the same fate as the dinosaurs. Alicia finally forgives Mylene for blaming her, before eventually wishing for a second chance to start anew, by being able to reunite with her loved ones in the afterlife.

The asteroid finally makes impact in central France, just east of Paris, triggering a global firestorm that slowly engulfs the planet, instantly obliterating cities in its path, including New York City, Moscow, Dubai, Mumbai, Rio de Janeiro, and Hong Kong. It reaches the Himalayas, melting the glaciers due to increasing temperature, then Panama, destroying its diverse biodiversity.

Alicia and Corazon embrace their deaths as the global firestorm approaches Manila, obliterating the city and its landmarks in the process, including the Torre de Manila, Quezon Memorial Shrine, Manila City Hall, and the Metrobank Center. London and Athens are shown left burning to ruins as the global firestorm finally engulfs the Earth only 14 hours after impact.

30 years later, only the remnants of human civilization remain. Sydney, Mexico City, and Chicago are all shown in complete ruins, as the entire surface of the Earth has been rendered uninhabitable by the effects of impact winter. Alicia is seen reuniting with her loved ones in the afterlife, signifying her wish of giving her a second chance to start anew was granted.

The film ends on a shot of a ruined San Francisco, with a disclaimer message stating that the events depicted is a work of fiction that could one day become reality. Only by working together can mankind avoid this terrible fate.

Cast

 * ''All cast members are credited under their real names.

Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.
 * Rebecca Rittenhouse as Clara Young
 * Isabelle Abiera as Mylene Concepcion
 * Yasmien Kurdi as Alicia Salvacion
 * Rose Byrne as Lorraine "Lori" Jones
 * Jay Manalo as Gregorio Soriano
 * Gabriella Wilde as Jessica Morgan
 * Mariam Al-Alawi as Andrea Concepcion
 * Gineb Macalinao as Corazon Salvacion
 * Rosario Rodriguez as Romina Salvacion
 * Jade Lopez as Stephanie "Steffi" Perez
 * Ysabel Ortega as Olivia Imperial

Additionally, Therlyn Alcuitas portrays Eileen Salcedo, Alicia's supportive best friend in the Philippines. Mikael Daez portrays Nathan Castillo, Alicia's ex-husband. Kris Bernal portrays Lynette, Nathan's current wife, Caprice Cayetano and Seth dela Cruz both portray Corazon's twin children.

Scenes featuring Martin del Rosario, Empress Schuck, Jason Abalos, and Dion Ignacio were removed. Raymond Bagatsing and Kit Thompson still does not appear in this version.

Staff
Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.
 * Directed by Gina Alajar
 * Produced by Darling Pulido-Torres, Shusuke Kaneko
 * Screenplay by Ryuhei Kitamura, Masato Kato
 * Story by Des Garbes-Severino, Maria Zita S. Garganera, Suzette Doctolero
 * Adapted from the screenplay of The Last War written by Toshio Yasumi
 * Inspired by the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event
 * Music by Shiro Sagisu
 * Cinematography by Kosuke Yamada, Taro Kawazu
 * Edited by Hiroshi Okuda
 * Special effects by Eiichi Asada, Makoto Kamiya

Locations

 * United States
 * San Francisco
 * Sacramento
 * New York City
 * Chicago
 * Philippines
 * Manila
 * Japan
 * Tokyo
 * France
 * Paris
 * Nepal
 * Himalayas
 * Panama
 * Panama Canal
 * Russia
 * Moscow
 * United Arab Emirates
 * Dubai
 * India
 * Mumbai
 * Brazil
 * Rio de Janeiro
 * China
 * Hong Kong
 * United Kingdom
 * London
 * Greece
 * Athens
 * Australia
 * Sydney
 * Mexico
 * Mexico City

Weapons, vehicles, and races

 * 2020 NA (Clara)

Themes
The film uses overlapping themes to depict its story and as a way for the audience to interpret the film in their own liking.


 * Human arrogance – The contemporary human civilization is constantly depicted as arrogant and destructive, as shown from Alicia's perspective, in which everyone, even her own family and relatives, despised her for various reasons related to self-importance. The extinction of the human race, and the destruction of its civilization, parallels Alicia's miserable life, albeit on a global scale; accomplishments were easily destroyed in an instant, just like what Alicia experienced, such as the Empire State Building being destroyed during the firestorm sequence.
 * Human extinction – In this view, the human race is seen as a failed species, the rise of civilization and technological advancement only resulted in increasingly impacting Earth's environment in a negative way, such as rapid population growth, overconsumption, overexploitation, pollution, and deforestation. A decline in biodiversity and changes in Earth's climate is observed while human civilization continues to expand rapidly. The impending impact event is interpreted as a natural way to get rid of the human race, while allowing Earth's biodiversity to gradually recover afterwards, just like what happened with the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event 66 million years ago.
 * Depression – The impact event could be an obvious metaphor for depression, just like with the 2011 film Melancholia. Throughout the story, each of the events depicted appears to parallel with Alicia's worsening health condition. The asteroid threat is first discovered at the same time Alicia meets Mylene, which prevented her from commiting suicide; Mylene is framed when Alicia is about to leave San Francisco; the asteroid deflection plan fails after Alicia blames Mylene for her mother's death; and the impact event being shown after Alicia wishes for a second chance.
 * Apocalypse eschatology – The impending impact event is also used as a metaphor for Christian beliefs regarding the Last Judgment, in which God will punish the wicked and reward the faithful, and predicts that negative world events will reach a climax. In this case, Alicia's miserable life reached its climax when she is diagnosed with internal bleeding in her brain, and is later rewarded with a chance to start anew with the people who actually loved her, while the rest of the human race is punished for despising Alicia, by letting the asteroid impact Earth and wipe out their civilization. The original ending further depicts this theme, showing Alicia reuniting with her loved ones in the afterlife, but is removed in the international version.
 * Asteroid impact avoidance – The final scene shows a disclaimer stating that the events depicted is a work of fiction that could happen in reality, warning the audience to work together as a species to avoid extinction like what happened to the non-avian dinosaurs during the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event 66 million years ago.

Production
In an interview with Gabriella Wilde in 2021, it is revealed that there is enough footage for a four-hour version of #JusticeForLove: End of the World'', resulting in almost 1 hour and 30 minutes of footage being cut during post-production. A year later, during in an interview for Maggie, Rebecca Rittenhouse mentioned being cast for a "sci-fi disaster film" that ultimately went unused.

On April 2024, Roland Emmerich was announced as the director for an upcoming American remake of #JusticeForLove: End of the World, with a planned 2026 release. In an attempt to renew attention on the original film, and as a response to the issues mentioned by both Wilde and Rittenhouse, Japanese studio Toho decided to release a revised version of the film, to be released jointly alongside the upcoming American remake.

In the revised version, the film's story now focuses on Rittenhouse's character, while Mylene and Alicia's story was minimized by removing several important scenes and characters, including removing the streetcar accident scene, and removing Ethan's revenge subplot completely. Scenes featuring Cristina Alvarez and Mylene's family were also removed.

Toho spent additional $10 million to include additional destruction scenes for the film's climax, such as the scenes depicting Moscow, Dubai, Mumbai, Rio de Janeiro, and Hong Kong being engulfed by the global firestorm.

Footage from the 2022 short film The Final Moments by GMA Pictures was also used for Alicia and Corazon's death scene, and the destruction of Manila and the rest of the Philippine archipelago.

Release
The film was given a limited theatrical release on November 3, 2026 in the United States, coinciding Godzilla's 72nd anniversary. The film earned more than $3 million during its initial theatrical run.

Following the theatrical release of the American remake, the film was later released direct-to-video internationally, on DVD and Blu-ray, as a double-feature with Justice for the End of the World.

Reception
Compared to #JusticeForLove: End of the World'', the revised version received mixed to negative reviews from critics. The visual effects and the film's theme were praised, but the film was criticized for minimizing Kurdi's role, underwritten human characters, and extremely long running time. The revised version is noted to be "inferior" to the original.

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 40% based on 88 reviews, with an average rating of 3.40/10. On Metacritic, the film has a score of 29 based on 22 critics, indicating "mixed to negative reviews".

Video releases
Toho DVD/Blu-ray (2027)
 * Region: 1 & 2
 * Discs: 4
 * Audio: Tagalog (3.1 and 2.0 Dolby Digital for DVD, 3.1 and 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio for Blu-ray)
 * Subtitles: English, Japanese
 * Special features: Footage from previsualization and storyboards (24 minutes), VFX breakdown (30 minutes); general behind-the-scenes featurette (15 minutes)
 * Notes: Packaged with Justice for the End of the World.

Trivia

 * The asteroid impacted Earth on October 10, 2020, as the day of impact is repeatedly mentioned in various scenes of the film.
 * Just like the original version, this film was never dubbed into Japanese or English and remains in its original Tagalog dub even in Japan or in the United States.
 * The asteroid that impacts Earth in the film is named Clara, a reference to Isabelle Abiera's character in the 2014 series Innamorata.
 * It also references the typical appearance of a bolide, especially for large impactors, as the name Clara means "bright".
 * One example of a recent superbolide event is the Chelyabinsk meteor in 2013, which also served as inspiration for the film.
 * This film marks the third time Paris is destroyed by an asteroid in film, after Armageddon and Greenland.
 * During the destruction of New York, one of the scenes depict the Lower Manhattan skyline without the One World Trade Center, despite being set in 2020 while the building was completed in 2014.
 * In the destruction scene of Times Square, a fictional advertisement featuring Julie Anne San Jose was originally present, but it was later removed. In 2021, this fictional advertisement was shown on the real Times Square.
 * All destruction scenes in the film were portrayed by CGI, but the destruction of Tokyo is portrayed by miniatures.
 * The Empire State Building that appears in the film is also portrayed by a miniature model.
 * This marks the second instance that both Isabelle Abiera and Jade Lopez appeared together, after in the 2019 series Bihag.
 * Coincidentally, Lopez is portrayed as the supportive best friend of Abiera's character, which is also her role in the series.
 * This film marks the second instance Ysabel Ortega portrayed a character that lives in San Francisco, after On the Wings of Love in 2015.
 * The film marked the return of Yasmien Kurdi in a film appearance since Loving You in 2008.
 * This film marks the fifth time Kurdi appeared in a Metro Manila Film Festival entry, after Aishite Imasu 1941: Mahal Kita and So Happy Together (both in 2004), Shake, Rattle and Roll 2k5 (2005), and Bahay Kubo: A Pinoy Mano Po! (2007).
 * This is not the first time Yasmien Kurdi portrayed a character named Alicia. She also portrays a character of the same name in the 2019 series Beautiful Justice, which, coincidentally, have the exact same theme as this film.
 * In the 2019 series Hiram na Anak, her character gave birth to a newborn baby also named Alicia.
 * Two scenes during the introductory sequence were portrayed by CGI, this includes the evolution of Times Square, and the construction of the Transamerica Pyramid.
 * Also during the introductory sequence, footage of the Castle Bravo nuclear test is shown, which served as one of the main inspiration for the Godzilla franchise.
 * This film marks the only instance Abiera is credited under her real name Isabelle Abiera after she started using her screen name Max Collins in 2012.
 * This film marks the second instance the Golden Gate Bridge appears being destroyed in a Toho film, after Battle in Outer Space in 1959.
 * At the end of the film, the audience is reminded that the events depicted in the film is a work of fiction that could happen in real-life, which references some of Toho's previous disaster films, most notably The Last War and Prophecies of Nostradamus, both having similar messages at the film's ending.