After taking a quick break from stomping over the world like a filmmaking Godzilla (yes, pun entirely intended) for upcoming Shakespearian conspiracy thriller Anonymous, it would seem that Roland Emmerich is headed back to one of the subjects that has seen him score at the box office: alien invasion. But this time, he’s going all stealthy and JJ Abrams-esque, setting plans in motion for The Zone almost completely under the radar.
And Abrams is even more pertinent a reference, since The Zone will apparently follow the nasty extraterrestrials using the fake “found footage” style that Cloverfield helped bring back to the mainstream.
Unlike his usual, loudly trumpeted movies, this new endeavour has Sony staying silent about any real details, though the Heat Vision Blog was able to dig up the fact that the film’s two lead characters – a haggard older journalist and a black cameraman in his 20’s – have already been cast (we’re assuming they’re either complete unknowns or locked into a hefty non-disclosure contract).
Though the plot will apparently feature a lot of improvisation, writer/director Guillaume Tunzini wrote the script for Emmerich. And in another departure for the man who made Independence Day and 2012, the budget with be a thrifty $5 million, hardly enough to knock over one major landmark. Which is A) even less than Skyline cost and B) makes us think that Emmerich really is striking out into new territory with this one. Between Anonymous and this new film, could we be seeing the next stage of the man who never met a famous building he didn’t want to exploderise/melt/wash away?