Last week it was revealed that only a few weeks after buying the rights to finanace and distribute Joseph Kosinski’s sci-fi flick, Oblivion (which was recently retitled Horizons, but seems to be back to its original moniker), Disney had dropped the project (they apparently found the subject matter a bit raw for a company that’s been consciously trying to get back to its family friendly roots) and so gave it back to the director to find a new home.
Deadline now reports that the the likely new studio for the film is Universal, as they’re now in exclusive negotations for the movie, with the plan to put the film on the fast-track and start shooting in October. However all this apparently hinges on Kosinski being able to make the movie for around the $100 million mark.
There’s also the possibility that Tom Cruise will star, as while no deal has been made, he’s in early talks for the flick. It does seem Tom’s keen on getting a sci-fi vehicle soon, as he was lined up for At The Mountains Of Madness for Guilmermo Del Toro, until that fell apart at Universal. Now it seems Oblivion may be where he’s headed instead.
Deadline also has a few more plot details than we’ve had before, saying it ‘is a futuristic science fiction love story that takes place in an apocalyptic future where most of the population lives in clouds above an earth surface that has been rendered for the most part uninhabitable. An earthbound soldier — stuck there repairing drones that patrol and blast a savage alien life form — encounters a beautiful woman who crashed in a craft, and they have an experience that forces him to question his world view. There are really only a handful of characters in the last-man-on-earth storyline, and so the feeling is that Cruise is a strong match.’