It stars Vin Diesel, Mélanie Thierry, Michelle Yeoh, Lambert Wilson, Mark Strong, Jérôme Le Banner, Charlotte Rampling, and Gérard Depardieu.

[6] In a dystopian[7] near future,[8] a Russian mobster, Gorsky, hires the mercenary Toorop to bring a young woman known only as Aurora from Asia to New York City.

Toorop, the girl, and, her guardian, Sister Rebeka, travel from the Noelite Convent in Kyrgyzstan to reach New York via Russia.

Unlike in the technologically-advanced United States, war and terrorist activity have transformed Russia's cities into dangerous, overpopulated slums.

The stress of humanity's situation causes Aurora to act out in strange ways and display clairvoyance abilities.

On one such occasion, Aurora, seemingly for no reason, panics and runs from a crowded train station just before it explodes in a terrorist attack.

To avoid satellite detection, the Captain of the submarine orders his crew to dive and he shoots some of the refugees still trying to get on board.

Sister Rebeka tells Toorop that Aurora could speak nineteen different languages by the age of two, and always seems to know things she has never learned.

The Noelites have become a major new salvationist religion, which vast numbers of people cling to as the world spirals out of control.

However, in private meetings, it is seen that their High Priestess desires only power and uses invented miracles to court converts.

Gorsky, working for the Noelites, had planted a tracking device in Toorop's passport and bombed the convent when he knew they were in the United States.

Looking outside the hotel, Toorop sees Gorsky's men and the Noelite group heavily armed and waiting for them on the street.

Mathieu Kassovitz worked on an English-language film adaptation of Maurice Georges Dantec's French novel Babylon Babies for five years;[9] in June 2005, this project got financing from StudioCanal and Twentieth Century Fox.

[12] In February 2006, actor Vin Diesel entered negotiations to star in the film, titled Babylon A.D.,[13] dropping out of the lead role of Hitman in the process.

[15] By February 2007, filming was slated to wrap in April to release Babylon A.D. in time for the coming Thanksgiving.

[17] In March 2007, the filming crew, having shot in the Czech Republic, took a two-week hiatus to deal with uncooperative weather, such as the lack of snow, and problems with set construction.

Crew members scouted Iceland for locations with snow to shoot six to eight days of footage, which was supposed to be done in February.