Budgets: Battleship Costing Over $200 Million? Scott Pilgrim Made For $60-$90 Million?
The Hollywood Reporter claims that the budget of Peter Berg's water based epic action adaptation of the board game Battleship has now topped $200 million. Apparently industry insiders are questioning if they can possibly make their money back with a movie based on a board game featuring no big stars. I would argue that Michael Bay's Transformers had no big stars when it began production: Shia and Megan were not household names. Yet, that film's budget was even made for an estimated $50 million cheaper and came with a built in rabid fan base. I'm not sure anyone is a fan of the board game, and anxiously awaiting a big screen adaptation.
The article also mentions that Universal's Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, which opens this weekend, cost $80 million-$90 million (although the studio claims the number at closer to $60 million). Of course, it is almost impossible to report on Hollywood accounting as we'll never really know the real numbers.
Previously:
Written by the brother writing team Jon and Erich Hoeber (Whiteout), the story unfolds as "a massive Naval adventure across the seas, in the skies and over land as our planet fights for survival against a superior force." The superior force are aliens from another planet known as The Regents. They come from a world similar to ours, and aren't actually looking to take over humanity or the planet Earth. Instead, they're on a mission to build a power source in the ocean, which is where they come in contact with a navy fleet. The film will also show us both sides of the story—from the aliens' perspective, as well as the humans. The alien ships do fly to Earth, as well as through the atmosphere, but they lose that capability once they land. They're also not busting out any lasers or fantastical alien weaponry—their weapons will be ballistics-based just like ours.
Taylor Kitsch, who played Gambit in Wolverine and Tim Riggins in Friday Night Lights, and is the star of Disney/Andrew Stanton's live-action adaptation of John Carter of Mars, will play the main character, Alex Hopper, the Commanding Officer of a destroyer who is in charge of a team of five trusted shipmates which include the XO, a female Japanese commander, and a Scotty-like chief engineer. Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker) was originally in talks for the same part, but could not accept due to "schedule conflicts". The character has been described as "wildly spirited" and "a great seaman but a lousy politician." True Blood star Alexander Skarsgard plays the brother of Alex Hopper, the Commanding Officer and lead in the film played by Kitsch. Skarsgard's character will be "a straight and narrow naval officer whom Kitsch, a wildly spirited naval officer, idolizes." Hamish Linklater (The New Adventures of Old Christine, Fantastic Four) will play "a brainy scientist named Cal." Tom Arnold has also said he has a role in the movie. Pop/R&B recording artist Rihanna will make her feature film acting debut in a yet-to-be-disclosed role.
They do not plan to shoot the movie in 3D. Universal Pictures will release the film on May 25th, 2012.