Yesterday we reported that Steven Spielberg has committed to direct Robopocalypse as his next movie, and plans to start shooting in January 2012. Well, it appear he’s got a bit of a fight on his hands, as iO9 reports that Jack Black has optioned the rights to How To Survive A Robot Uprising, which has a similar premise.
Both will be based on books by Daniel H. Wilson, the expert in robotic and artificial intelligence, who’s now become an author. So can the projects live side by side? Well, possibly. How To Survive A Robot Uprising is a humourous take on what to do when and if robots take over, while Robopocalyse is said to be more serious and realistic, so they may be able to co-exist.
It’s not the first time someone has tried to bring it to the screen, as Mike Myers was working on it a while back, before it slipped into development hell. Now Black and Steven Pink have picked up the rights, with Pink (who wrote High Fidelity and directed Hot Tub Time Machine) currently working on the script. As yet, there’s no confirmation that Pink will direct, or that Black will star, although that’s the logical presumption.
Spielberg has his own studio, and so can therefore do what he likes, so it would seem it’s more Pink and Black who’ll have to fight to get their movie on the big screen.