Attack The Block may not have made a huge amount of money in the States, but it certainly got Hollywood interested in director Joe Cornish (the fact he co-wrote Tintin didn’t hurt either). Now Deadline reports that the former comedian has signed on to write and direct Snow Crash for Paramount Pictures.
The project is an adaptation of Neal Stephenson’s critically acclaimed 1992 novel, which was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 greatest English-language novels of all time. The story is set in a future US that is now controlled by corporations and the mafia. The plot revolves around a computer virus dubbed Snow Crash, which has the ability to transfer from the computer screen directly into the users, destroying their brains. The protagonist, named Hiro Protagonist, a computer hacker and pizza delivery guy, steps in to try and stop the utter downfall of human civilisation.
Paramount first held the rights to this seminal novel back when it was first published in 1992, before the project moved to Disney and producer Kathleen Kennedy. Now the rights are back at Paramount, after Kathleen Kennedy introduced the property to Joe Cornish. This is one of a few project Cornish is involved with, so there’s no guarantee it’ll be his next movie.