Fox Finally Starts Assembling Another Robot Film

[vansau]

Fox Finally Starts Assembling Another Robot Film

Not only is Fox working on a new robot movie based on an Isaac Asimov book, but the studio's got a real life NASA technician writing the script.

20th Century Fox seems to have finally realized that robots are cool. Only seven years after the <a href=http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=irobot.htm>major box office success of I, Robot, the studio has been revealed to be working on a new movie adaptation of one of sci-fi god Isaac Asimov's books. This time around, the story is <a href=http://www.amazon.com/Caves-Steel-Daneel-Olivaw-Book/dp/0553293400/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1317097525&sr=8-1>The Caves of Steel, which is part of the author's famous Robot series.

Fox has tapped Henry Hobson to direct the film and hired John Scott 3 (seriously, that's the man's name) to adapt the book into a screenplay. If you aren't familiar with The Caves of Steel, here's a quick summary:

The Caves of Steel is a murder mystery that takes place 1,000 years in the future, on an overpopulated Earth where there is a phobia about robots. The title refers to giant city complexes that are necessary because Earth is so overpopulated. While robots are used for labor in outlying "spacer worlds" where the rich live on spacious parcels, the robots are outlawed on Earth. A Spacer Ambassador lobbying to loosen Earth's anti-robot restrictions is found dead, his chest imploded by an energy blaster, and a detective is matched with a human-looking robot to solve the crime.

Hobson and Scott already have some experience together, as the two of them are currently working on a project called Maggie, which tells the story of a 16-year-old girl who transforms into a zombie over the course of six weeks and continues to live with her family (spoiler alert: hijinks ensue). What could be really cool, though, is how these two men's backgrounds combine for the sci-fi film: Hobson is trained as a graphic designer and garnered acclaim for the titles he designed in <a href=http://www.amazon.com/Sherlock-Holmes-Blu-ray-Robert-Downey/dp/B001OQCV6K/ref=atv_avod_discplus?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER>Sherlock Holmes, while Scott builds command systems for NASA's X-ray satellite, which takes photos of X-ray photons way out in space. It doesn't get much nerdier than this, folks (and that's meant as nothing but a compliment).

The Caves of Steel is certainly a great premise for a sci-fi film. That said, seeing as Fox's last Asimov film was <a href=http://www.amazon.com/I-Robot-Blu-ray-Will-Smith/dp/B0012GVKVY/ref=sr_1_3?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1317098144&sr=1-3>I, Robot, it seems safe the movie won't be the most faithful adaptation of the man's story.

First Showing

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[emeraldrafael]

Its going to make big money but the fans will tears its guts out and ***** and moan.

Though one thing i never got (though I'll admit i faded ina nd out of the book) is why the robot is allowed to be a detective. But like i said, I faded in and out of the book and at this point I just simple could not care.

... so depending how it looks, i may go see it. my big robot movie right now is Real Steel, because I liked the Episode of the Twilight Zone

 

[Rylot]

Why do movie studios feel the need to adapt major works that have nothing in common with the fiction they're based on? I, Robot had nothing to do with Asimov's work; the new Three Musketeer's movie will have even less. Are they trying to attract people who are familiar with the original works but don't know anything about it? Just doesn't really seem to make any sense.

 

[funksobeefy]

Ill be impressed when they got two writers

 

[the spud]

Holy crap, that was already seven years ago!?! Time does fly.

OT: That summary left me with the impression that the plot was somewhat unoriginal. We shall see.

 

[Siege_TF]

I'm shocked it made as much as it did; I walked out. Insulting movie.

 

[Frozen Donkey Wheel2]

Wait...Why the hell should a graphics designer and a NASA technician be any good at writing a damn script?

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Fun fact, the I Robot Film was adapted from an earlier failed movie called Hard Wired. The name was changed to I-Robot, with tangential links to the Asimov story thrown in in order to appeal to a bigger audience.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Wait...Why the hell should a graphics designer and a NASA technician be any good at writing a damn script?

Moon logic? I dunno, usually books or materials made by specialists tend to be quite boring... No narrative flow.

Haven't seen/heard of this movie but I'm not about to pay to watch it full price. Come to the cheap theaters and maybe.

 

[Jandau]

The title of this article implies that there was at least one Robot film in the recent past, when in fact there was none. There was a Will Smith vehicle that had a few common points with the works of Isaac Asimov, but calling it an adaptation of Asimov's work would be like saying The Ring is an adaptation of Tolkien's work because both feature the word "ring"...

 

[Nouw]

Make it faithful and I'm happy. At least they're not ruining other great Science Fiction authour's work like C. Clarke or Heinlein.

 

[Alar]

Let's hope they work with Penny Arcade on this one. They did something very similar (in comic form) and it was really quite intriguing. I'd love to see what they could do with a movie budget.

 

[Jadak]

Why do movie studios feel the need to adapt major works that have nothing in common with the fiction they're based on? I, Robot had nothing to do with Asimov's work; the new Three Musketeer's movie will have even less. Are they trying to attract people who are familiar with the original works but don't know anything about it? Just doesn't really seem to make any sense.

Seems to work for me, someone who is aware of the works as a cultural element, but lacking any close familiarity with any of them. So, whatever group that puts me in, it's geared towards us and it works.

Although mostly, I couldn't care less and it's more about a trailer looking cool.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

the studio has been revealed to be working on a new movie adaptation of one of sci-fi god Isaac Asimov's books.

Let's be honest here, I, Robot could hardly be called an adaptation. It took a character here and a concept there, but I wouldn't call it an adaptation.

 

[Alandoril]

Wait...Why the hell should a graphics designer and a NASA technician be any good at writing a damn script?

That was my reaction as well. It doesn't exactly make sense. They're the last people I'd select to do anything involving writing.

 

[Vault101]

Fun fact, the I Robot Film was adapted from an earlier failed movie called Hard Wired. The name was changed to I-Robot, with tangential links to the Asimov story thrown in in order to appeal to a bigger audience.

actuall wasnt it just a screenplay? not an actual movie?

anyway I robot wasnt bad..surprisingly good even

 

[Kahohess]

Why do movie studios feel the need to adapt major works that have nothing in common with the fiction they're based on?

Money.

They want the largest audience, and those who actually read the book and do care about the original material count for nothing in this.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Why do movie studios feel the need to adapt major works that have nothing in common with the fiction they're based on? I, Robot had nothing to do with Asimov's work; the new Three Musketeer's movie will have even less. Are they trying to attract people who are familiar with the original works but don't know anything about it? Just doesn't really seem to make any sense.

IIRC, the movie was already underway under its own power when they acquired the rights to use Asimov's story. A similar thing happened with Starship Troopers, IIRC.

Such is the way of the movie industry. Apparently, Catwoman was going to be much more like "The Crow" until it was discovered there wasn't a superhero movie coming out, so they needed to find an already started film that could be superheroed to fill the void.

 

[Esotera]

As long as it doesn't have Will Smith in, I'm actually quite excited about this. Caves of Steel is a really good book.