Steven Spielberg’s Robopocalypse is transforming into a new format.
Before Daniel H. Wilson’s Robopocalypse novel was published in 2011, Spielberg optioned the film rights and was slated to direct a movie adaptation of the science-fiction story. A script was written by Drew Goddard, and Anne Hathaway and Chris Hemsworth were attached as stars at one point. Earlier this year, Spielberg confirmed Robopocalypse had been scrapped, explaining that the expensive project would have been “a company-ender.”
Per The Hollywood Reporter, Robopocalypse is now being developed as a television show, with Ron Howard directing the pilot episode, Akiva Goldsman as the showrunner and writer of the pilot, and Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment executive producing. Imagine Entertainment’s Brian Grazer and Jeb Brody, along with Weed Pictures’ Greg Lessans and Rachel Wizenberg, will lead the series development in collaboration with Howard and Goldsman. There is not a network or streamer attached to the project yet.
Howard released a statement explaining why he was drawn to the show and Wilson’s source material, and his reaction to working with Goldsman once again. Check out the filmmaker’s comments below:
Robopocalypse has all the scale and suspense of a major action story, but what drew me to it are the thought-provoking themes and humanity at its center. Daniel created a future that feels both startling and increasingly plausible, with characters who must figure out what connects us when the technology we rely on turns against us. I am also thrilled to work with Akiva again. We have shared some incredibly meaningful creative experiences, and this feels like the right story to bring us back together.
Robopocalypse has all the scale and suspense of a major action story, but what drew me to it are the thought-provoking themes and humanity at its center. Daniel created a future that feels both startling and increasingly plausible, with characters who must figure out what connects us when the technology we rely on turns against us. I am also thrilled to work with Akiva again. We have shared some incredibly meaningful creative experiences, and this feels like the right story to bring us back together.
The bestselling novel is set in a post-apocalyptic future where humanity is almost completely annihilated when robots attack, with the world-changing event being referred to as Zero Hour. Those who manage to survive the attack regroup and fight back against the robots in an action-packed story that raises important questions about technology. This exploration has different implications now than it did in 2011 due to the controversial ways in which artificial intelligence has been on the rise in recent years.
Howard and Goldsman’s professional history can be tracked back to A Beautiful Mind, which Howard directed and Goldsman wrote, and it was also produced by Imagine Entertainment. The 2001 movie won four Academy Awards, including for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, along with Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress (Jennifer Connelly). The two men also collaborated on 2017’s The Dark Tower film, based on Stephen King’s book series of the same name, starring Idris Elba.
In terms of why the Robopocalypse movie didn’t work out, Spielberg went into further detail when confirming the project’s status earlier this year, describing it as “gargantuan” and “it would have ended a whole studio that would have never made its money back.” Since he “decided it was going to be the most expensive movie I ever directed, and I wasn’t ready to take that on,” it did not move forward.
Additionally, “my company, DreamWorks, financed all these films, and I did not want to bring Robo’ into my own company, because it would have just been too expensive for us to produce. And then I took it out to other companies. I didn’t want to pay for it, but other companies were interested in paying for it, as long as I was the director. I didn’t want to do that to anybody because I couldn’t guarantee the audience.”
Rearrange the movies into the correct US release order.
<a href="/register/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sign in</a> to claim your place
on the leaderboard!
<a href="/register/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sign in</a> to claim your place
on the leaderboard!
As a television series led by Howard and Goldsman, Robopocalypse is being completely revamped, although Spielberg will still be involved via Amblin Entertainment. Since the new iteration is only in development as of this writing, without a network or streamer attached, there is still a long way to go before being officially greenlit, but it is a fresh start after an onscreen adaptation had seemingly been abandoned for good.
While he won’t be directing the Robopocalypse pilot episode, Spielberg did return as a director in the sci-fi genre this year with his alien movie Disclosure Day. The story is centered on meteorologist Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) learning about the existence of aliens, leading to her and Dr. Daniel Kellner (Josh O’Connor) attempting to expose the truth while the head of the Wardex Corporation, Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth), does his best to stop them.
Robopocalypse
Discover more from NAIRAVOICE.COM.NG
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
