Genre: Science Fiction.
Studio:
Unknown.
Production Company:
Unknown.
Project Phase: Development Hell.
Who's In It:
Unknown.
Who's Making It:
Dennis Feldman (Screenwriter); based upon the Issac Asimov novel Foundation.
Premise: In the distant future, psychohistorian Hari Seldon proves that Humanity will fall back into barbarism throughout the galaxy. He creates a new field of science - psychohistory - to try and save some remnants for the survivors of the coming apocalypse.
Release Date: Unknown.
Comments: Asimov's Foundation series of books has been hailed as one of the classics of science fiction. The scope of the book is immense, and it deals with intangible and titanic mechanisms that shape human thought. Adapting it faithfully to the screen is a hard enough task; pulling off and delivering the philosophical richness of the book to movie-goers is going to be a tough job to do.
Back in 1994, TriStar Pictures purchased the movie rights and was trying to develop the property with a French director. The project remained stalled for close to two years until the rights were sold to New Line Cinema in February 1996, and screenwriter Dennis Feldman (Species) hired to work on a screenplay. Feldman has said that he will try and contain as much as the book into the screenplay and remain faithful to Asimov's vision.
Rumors: Unknown.
Scoop Feedback:
August 31, 1998... At one point a couple of years ago this project was on the start of development; now more than a year has passed and no official word has been heard about the hoped-for film version of Asimov's Foundation. Even though hardly any development has occured with this project, we've been scooped a tiny amount of news over the course of the last six weeks.
In mid-July an anonymous scooper wrote that the Dennis Feldman script had been officially dropped and the project had been placed in turnaround by New Line. Then, two weeks later we were told by another anonymous writer that Atlas Entertainment and the "producer of Twelve Monkeys" were looking for a new writer and hoping to set up the project at another studio shortly.
Another week passed and we heard some more news. The producer that the earlier (same?) scooper alluded to was revealed to be Charles Roven, who apparently also runs Atlas Entertainment. [All scoops submitted anonymously.]
Then, three days ago, another scoop. Another mention of Feldman's script being junked and the project being placed in turnaround -- but this time another mention of Atlas' attempts to breathe cinematic life into Foundation. "ATLAS is having trouble finding another studio who will take it on, mostly because everyone in town has already tried and failed to make it at some point in the past." [Sent in by 'HotDogger'.]
Will Asimov's grand tale reach theaters one day? Perhaps. It can only help this project when the revolutionary advances to special visual effects by computer generated imagery continues on unabated. As well, when other legendary novels are greenlighted that require such grand-scale FX, the chances of a Foundation film continue to grow. With the recent announcement that J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings is set to be developed as three major features, and with the commitment from such as director as Peter Jackson who's passionate about the original material, perhaps Atlas will find the right studio and director who can also see the scope and vision of adapting Asimov's classic SF tale for the silver screen.
January 7, 1999... All we were told was "Expect ATLAS to have this project running at a major studio by the summer." That's it. [Anonymous.]
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