A pair of upcoming tentpoles have found writers to try and Rumpelstilskin these “ideas” into box office gold. First off, Gareth Edwards' “Godzilla” remake Legendary Pictures has just hired Max Borenstein to pen the script for the upcoming blockbuster movie.
As you'll recall, David S. Goyer — the man behind Christopher Nolan's Batman films — was the first writer on the project and turned in a script, but it looks like Borenstein will pick it up from there.
Also getting to work is Evan Spiliotopoulos, writer of the upcoming and suprisingly solid looking “Snow White and the Huntsman,” as well as a 2008 direct-to-DVD/Jerry Lewis-voiced animated “Nutty Professor” movie, as he will write “Asteroids” for Universal. It seems for all their canceling of big-budget, brand-based movies this year — “Monopoly,” “The Gathering,” “Magic,” "Clue," "Ouijia" — this one is still considered a good idea.
The "Asteroids" plot involves “the story of two estranged brothers that must team up to save Earth from an alien race.” Universal evidently outbid other studios to get the rights to this one. Spiliotopoulos has graduated from direct-to-DVD animated films it seems, as he's also signed up for “Charles Fort,” from producer Robert Zemeckis, based on a "spooky" Dark Horse comic.
"Godzilla" writer Borenstein is a bit of a darling at both Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures, having written “Art of the Steal” for WB, as well as a Jimi Hendrix biopic, “Jimi,” and the supernatural fantasy “The Seventh Son." While a Jimi Hendrix biopic seems to have a number of hoops to go through before getting made, the cast of the YA-novel-based "The Seventh Son" is definitely curious, with Julianne Moore, Ben Barnes, and Jeff Bridges attached. So clearly, he's got some steam behind him and is a favored hand by the studio.
No director has been assigned to "Asteroids" yet, but as for ‘Godzilla,’ Edwards showed a lot of promise with "Monsters," so we're remaining optimistic. Roland Emmerich’s awful 1998 stab at the franchise left such a bad taste in everyone’s mouth that most people are still not ready to think about another incarnation of the famous Japanese character. Here’s hoping that Edwards can change that.
"Godzilla" is being described as a “creature feature centered on the giant city-destroying and monster-fighting lizard” (Thanks for clarifying, Legendary). We will have to wait until the film stomps into theaters to see what Gareth Edwards does with this material.
