Irrespective of the plot, the title Robopocalyse is enough to get studio executives frothing at the mouth. It did that last November for Dreamworks, who snapped up the rights to Daniel Wilson’s as yet unpublished book, with plans to make a movie version. And just to show how exciting that title it, Wilson hasn’t even finished the novel yet.
The studio is now moving forward with the project by hiring Cloverfield screenwriter, Drew Goddard, to handle the script. While WIlson is still finishing the book, Goddard has apparently started working on the screenplay anyway, which will deal with the human race’s attempt to survive an apocalyptic robot uprising. As well as the title, another thing that may have interested Dreamworks is that Wilson has a Ph.D in robotics and has spent a lot of time working on artificial intelligence, suggesting this may be a more realistic tale of robotic rampage than normal.
Although it’s only industry speculation at the moment, Deadline queries whether Robopocalypse may be Spielberg’s next movie. Although he’s in post on Tintin, that movie doesn’t arrive until late next year, and he’s said to be keen to get back behind the camera before then. Recent attempts to make a Matt Helm movie and a remake of Harvey both collapsed, leaving the director’s diary open. There was also speculation he may direct a George Gershwin biopic, but this now seems unlikely.
While Spielberg has been busy setting Dreamworks back up as an independent company, investors put money into the studio on the expectation they’ll get some Spielberg directed movies, but he hasn’t made a film since Indiana Jones 4. The word is that while he’s made no decisions, either Robopocalypse or an adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s War Horse are most likely to be his next film.