The original '51

For the upcoming release of "The Day the Earth Stood Still," a 1951 sci-fi remake, Twentieth Century Fox and Moxie Interactive created a social network application to engage users in the film's central theme: Armageddon.

"Earth's Vital List" asks users to select up to 12 items they'd save if life on earth were coming to an end. For each item, members must provide a reason they chose it. They can also upload a personal photo, or select a stock photo of a similar item from Flickr. Social features include list-sharing and voting on friends' items, ClickZ reports.

The "animals & plants" category has been the most popular among would-be curators of human history, followed closely by "people," then "food & drink." Least-popular items fall in entertainment categories like music, literature, movies and TV; people also seem disinterested in saving favorite sports and holidays.

Big Armageddon saves also include favorite gadgets like iPhones, Wiis and digital cameras, while others stick with old-fashioned tools like a Swiss Army knife and duct tape. Others got a bit more creative, claiming they would save "Bill Gates," "cat naps," and "Malibu, CA." (The top vital items will be disclosed on Dec. 12, the day the film is released.)

Fox and Moxie invested some time getting the application to work properly across seven major social networks. It is also available in 10 different languages.

Nearly 3,000 Facebook users have added items. Participants from MySpace number around 1,200. But users across the other five networks appear nonplussed by the app. Orkut, Bebo, and Friendster members have hardly touched it (participants number in the single-digits). And despite the project's efforts to include other countries, the US still tops the list at 3,654 users, versus 107 participants in the UK — the country in which the app is second-most-often used.