Sony Puts The Brakes On Roland Emmerich’s ‘Singularity’; Film Still Expected To Hit On May 17, 2013

With Sony enduring a brutal year due to the painful birth of "Men In Black 3," which saw a slew of writers come and go from the project, extensive production delays, and a skyrocketing budget that is expected to be running well north of $200 million dollars aleady, they are not eager to make that same mistake twice. Sort of.

First announced this summer as his next project after his attempt at not exploding things with "Anonymous," director Roland Emmerich is prepping the big, expensive and yes, explosion-y "Singularity." However, even though it was announced last week that testing was underway for the leads — Ben Barnes, Logan Marshall Green, Thomas McDonell and Luke Grimes were in the mix — that process has been halted, and pre-production has been shut down so they can get the script in order.

The $175 million story, penned by Emmerich and Harald Kloser, centers on Adam, a young man whose life is saved when his consciousness is transferred to a swarm of nanobots, allowing him to gain powers. However he soon ends up on the run from the evil company that created the technology. It appears the script still needs more tinkering as Ray Kurzweil — author, inventor, futurist and the man who coined the term "singularity" — is being brought in to help with revisions. Even though he has no movie experience at all. But we figure everyone knows what they're doing, right?

Well, they must be because that May 17, 2013 release date is going to hold and by hook or by crook, they're gonna make this thing, with filming now set to begin in late spring or early summer next year, conforming to the crammed production schedule Hollywood now bestows on all their tentpoles. So has Sony learned anything? Not really. Even though the script still needs work, they're determined to get something into theaters. And well, who can blame them. Whenever Emmerich makes stuff blow up, the box office gets happy, even if its total nonsense. Emmerich is the last guy in the world who needs a script that makes total sense to score a hit. So don't sweat it folks, "Singularity" is still happening. It's just gonna be more Emmerich-y than ever. [Variety]