Long before Joseph Kosinski became a hugely hot propert in Hollywood because of Tron Legacy (which doesn’t arrive in cinemas until December, but already looks like it could be one of the biggest hits of the year), he was developing a sci-fi film called Oblivion.
At the time he was a commercials director looking for an in with Hollywood, so Oblivion was designed as film that could be made on a medium budget with a small cast, but offered high concept, big ideas, in an immersive science fiction world. Well, just because he’s now a hotshot director and Disney already wants him to remake The Black Hole for them and he’s also down to make the sci-fi thriller Archangels, doesn’t mean he’s given up on his earlier idea. And now Deadline is reporting that Oblivion is at the stage where he’s planning to sell it to Hollywood this week.
His first stop was Disney last night, and if they don’t bite, he’ll be shopping it to other studios over the coming days, with most people expecting a deal to happen quickly, simply because of the buzz surrounding Kosinkski. The film itself (which the director is also turning into a graphic novel, with art by Andree Wallin, due to be published later this year by Radical Publishing) ‘takes place in an apocalyptic future where most people live above the clouds because the surface of the Earth is uninhabitable. A soldier is stuck on the desolate Earth repairing drones that patrol and destroy a savage alien race called The Scavengers. He comes across a beautiful woman who has crashed in a craft. Together they take an epic adventure that changes his world view.’
Expect to hear which studio has bought it very soon.