Timur Bekmambetov hasn’t directed a movie since Wanted (although he’s got Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter on the horizon), but he’s been very active as a producer. One of the movies he’s lined up to produce is Apollo 18, with Trevor Caewood directing from a script by Brian Miller.
Space aficianados will be aware that the Apollo moon missions ended with Apollo 17, but the idea behind this film is that there was another, secret trip to the moon. Using the currently popular ‘found footage’ idea, the plot revolves around recently discovered video shot by the crew of an abandoned moon mission from the early 70s. NASA claims that the mission never took place, but this new discovery of “lost” footage reveals the existence of alien life and explains why NASA has hidden the evidence for all of these years.
The project was being promoted at the American Film Market, and The Weinstein Company has now emerged the victors in a fierce bidding battle to distribute the movie. They will now have worldwide rights to the movie, which is already well into production and heading for release next spring. Indeed it’s almost impressive they’ve managed to get this far into making the movie – Bekmambetov had footage to show off at the AFM – without anyone having heard about it.