So can this officially be called the first prestige picture in 3D? It sure looks like it as Warner Bros. as acquired a pitch for “The Battle Of Midway” that will be written by Bruce C. McKenna who also happens to be the producer/writer of the recent Emmy winner Oustanding Miniseries “The Pacific.”
The film will certainly be epic. Budgeted at around $200 million and planning for a 3D shoot, the film will cover the events of June 4-6, 1942, one of the most important naval battles and turning points of the war.
The film will produced under Akiva Goldsman’s Weed Road shingle and Warner Bros. is hoping the film falls somewhere between “Pearl Harbor” and “Saving Private Ryan.” The project is being fast-tracked with McKenna being expected to finish the script in eight weeks, after which, it will presumably go out to directors and actors. Our guess is that Warner Bros. will want to have it ready for the 60th anniversary of the battle in 2012. [Deadline]
i hope more "saving private ryan" than "pearl harbor" for this movie
Indeed, Pearl Harbor was a too-glossy bore. That said, not everyone could stomach the uber-gritty gore and hellish atmosphere of Saving Private Ryan.
So I would hope they mean "like Saving Private Ryan, but with the gore toned down just enough that people don't flee the theaters 15 minutes in".
Also, let's hope they take another cue from SPR and completely avoid any sort of romance subplot (something that bogged down Pearl Harbor FAR too much).
And, let's hope this doesn't inspire those "Epic Movie" guys to make yet another lame parody movie.
This seems like a particularly horrible idea in so many ways.