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Producer Neil Moritz and Columbia Pictures to Make Sci-Fi Flick Battle: Los Angeles
Posted on Friday, April 11th, 2008 by Hunter Stephenson
“Did they bring babes, man?”
After a long drought, original sci-fi seems to be back in the studio eye thanks to Cloverfield and I Am Legend (the latter was a remake, yes, but felt fresh). Producer Neil Moritz (IAL, xXx) and Columbia Pictures are gearing up to make a (space) alien invasion movie called Battle: Los Angeles from a spec script by Chris Bertolini (The General’s Daughter). There are shades of Starship Troopers and Cloverfield, as the film will follow a “Marine platoon’s encounter in the battle against an alien invasion on the streets of Los Angeles” and like J.J. Abrams monster smash, it won’t carry a heavy price tag according to Moritz, who, btw, loves it all…
“I love the idea, and I love the script. I like it all,” Moritz said to THR. “We are going to be in production within six months. What’s attractive to me is that it’s a huge event movie that can be done at a modest scale.”
Apparently, there won’t be much, if any, shaky cam. The title is definitely no Earth Vs. Moon and the premise sounds like it could leave the brain passed out on the beach nude, but I’m willing to give Moritz the benefit. Hopefully the locale, which Variety reports will start in Santa Monica and move to Los Angeles, opens up plenty of cheesy, mouth-agape celebritard cameos.
Tobey Maguire and Neil Moritz to Produce Comic Book Adaptation Afterburn
Posted on Thursday, March 27th, 2008 by Hunter Stephenson
“Bad cat.”
Before we begin, no, not Afterburner the video game, it’s Afterburn, and it still sounds pretty cool. Tobey Maguire and Neil Moritz (I Am Legend, xXx) are producing a feature film adaptation of the sci-fi comic book Afterburn, which follows a group of treasure-hunters for hire in the future who “recover” exotic valuables from an Earth half-destroyed by a solar flare. For instance, in the first issue which hit in January from upstart Red 5 Comics, the team must claim the Mona Lisa from a Louve in shambles. The devastating solar flare has left a wily world roamed by mutants, rival pirates and assorted derelicts that would make a pass on your sister. A director is not attached, but hopefully the tone is more I Am Legend than National Treasure, because the premise is grand.
Red 5 Comics is getting a round of applause today from film sites because the founders, who also wrote Afterburn, are online pioneers of geekdom (which is now cooler than hipsterdom). Obviously, they just hit it big. Paul Ens is a co-founder of the precocious Star Wars site TheForce.net and went on to be the director of Lucasfilm’s official site StarWars.com. Somewhere Steven Brill shudders like Little Nicky. His pal Scott Chitwood co-founded TheForce and contributes to the film news sites ComingSoon.com and Superhero Hype.com.
The latter Red 5 geek describes Afterburn as “Indiana Jones meets Mad Max, but instead of ancient artifacts in cob-webbed temples in traditional pulp adventure” the characters raid more contemporary treasures from felled museums et al. Congrats to them both from Slashfilm, now go buy some castles and dent some Ferraris. If you’re wondering, Maguire is currently plotting his Robotech film for the big screen. No word if he’ll be starring in Ens’s and Chitwood’s vision.
Discuss: Sounds like Afterburn will make a good sci-fi movie, no? Anyone got a similar geek success story they’d like to share?
Source Link: HR / ComingSoon
“Purrr.”
Isn’t it funny/sad/make you angry when heated discussions you had when you were, like, nine, are made into beyond epic movies? Producer Neil Moritz (I Am Legend, Even Almighty) looks to make a movie called Animals from a script by former lawyer turned hotshot screenwriter Mike Sobel that was just purchased by Columbia. The movie pitch is this: what if all of the world’s animals, including pets like kittens and gerbils, turned on us?
The movie would continue the hot switcheroo trend of “Pissed Off Mother Nature vs. Humans” that is at the center of M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening and goes as far back as, I dunno, Man’s Best Friend and Funny Farm or was it The Birds (which came first?)? But I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a movie where every animal ever, sans mascots, sea monkeys and Furries, flashes its fangs, claws and plastic balls in our Earth-ruining direction. Scary stuff, and no doubt, will make for one of the most awesome posters ever. No word on whether Animals will swat a violent paw at cryptozoology.
Discuss: In this very likely hypothetical, what animal would you prefer to do you in? I choose the sloth. Who should direct this madness? I choose Paul Thomas Anderson.
Source Link: HR Â
