So maybe Neill Blomkamp‘s Chappie wasn’t the hit that Sony expected it to be, and maybe Ridley Scott’s Alien: Paradise Lost took precedence over his Alien film, but that isn’t stopping the director from filmmaking. In fact he will simply put his Alien 5 film on hold.
While that is happening, he looks to be staying at Fox for a while as he is now in talks to write and direct an adaptation of Thomas Sweterlitsch‘s novel The Gone World. More on this story below.
Deadline was the first to report on the news. They describe Sweterlitsch’s forthcoming novel as a time-traveling procedural. However, any details beyond that are unknown. According to the site, numerous studios chased the book before it landed in the hands of the people over at Fox.
Blomkamp’s previous films had some sort of take on topical social issues, so it is not clear if The Gone World is the same. Chernin Entertainment is producing the film adaptation for Fox. The site adds that the film is being planned for a franchise.
Sweterlitch’s previous novel, Tomorrow And Tomorrow, was acquired by TriStar a few years back.
Now while most of us can appreciate that Blomkamp can create visually stunning worlds, he doesn’t have a knack for screenwriting, which may worry a few people who are fans of his and fans of Sweterlitsch if he indeed is going to be writing the script. Elysium and Chappie are more than enough pieces of evidence to show what he is and isn’t good at.
Now that is not to say he hasn’t learned from his past mistakes. Maybe Blomkamp has learned a few things along the way. The best thing that could possibly happen to him is if he gets someone to co-write The Gone World script with him. If the director does end up signing on to write and direct the film, it would mark the first time that he has directed an adaptation of a novel. But Fox is putting a lot of faith in Blomkamp if they want to turn The Gone World into a franchise. Let’s just hope it all pays off for everyone involved.
Neither the book or the movie have release dates yet, but seeing that Blomkamp is just in talks to write and direct, it’s too early for that kind of information anyway. We will keep you post should any new developments come up.
[Source: Deadline]
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