Legendary Pictures has snapped up a pitch for a futuristic thriller that – and we’re still in a state of shock about this – isn’t based on a comic book, a TV show or a videogame.
Could it be…? Has someone in Hollywood actually had an original idea?
Possibly, possibly. The idea in question is an as-yet untitled franchise-in-waiting that takes place in a future when Earth has lost a war to an enemy race, which has imprisoned human survivors. And then along comes one man to lead an uprising…
OK, so this is ever-so-slightly reminiscent of Battlefield Earth. Only we, and Legendary, and every man, woman and child who ever laid eyes on that John Travolta monstrosity, will be hoping that that’s where the similarity ends, and that this is much, much, much better.
The pitch was sold to Legendary by the writer-producer team of Matt Cirulnick (sits down at typewriter, bashes out scripts) and the wonderfully-named David Manpearl (sits down at desk, signs cheques).
Cirulnick is a busy boy of late - he's writing Stones for Ridley Scott and The Lost Patrol, also for Legendary, and has set up Elysium, with Manpearl also on board, at Regency.