Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy.
Studio:
Unknown.
Production Company:
Possibly Amblin Entertainment.
Project Phase: Script Stage.
Who's In It:
Unknown.
Who's Making It:
Ray Bradbury (Screenwriter); based upon the novel The Martian Chronicles by
Ray Bradbury.
Premise: There are Martians, and they know we are coming. Perhaps they were sitting outside their delicate homes listening to their book hum a tale of their decendants when they catch a bright fast-moving light flicker across their night sky. Humanity sends three missions to the red planet, crews trained and prepared and eager to usher in a new age of exploration and much-needed hope to the burgeoning populations of Earth, but only the hiss from dead radio frequencies is heard back at Mission Control. But when humans do finally manage to land and report back, they find only the scraps of the once-proud Martian civilization, a hundred-thousand millennia old - and utterly decimated by the pride of our species.
(And that's just the beginning - so go read the book.)
Release Date: Unknown.
Comments: One of the classics of twentieth-century science fiction, Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles, is a fable of rocketships and sandships, set on a Mars that can only exist in a boy's daydream and would never survive the exposure from the luminosity our cold, skeptical worldview demands. When Humans and Martians meet, the results change the course of the two species' forever. The Martian Chronicles is the Tom Sawyer of the space age, providing the reader not only with a story of adventure, mystery and wonder but it also serves as a moral reminder of Man's arrogance, pomposity and capacity (necessity?) for self-destruction.
If they can pull it off, it'd make a hell of a movie.
Back in 1979, NBC aired their version of The Martian Chronicles, a three-part miniseries starring Rock Hudson in the lead role. If you look in the right places, you may be able to find the set of videotapes for rent.
Rumors: Unknown.
Scoop Feedback:
February 25, 1997... Ray Bradbury was the keynote speaker at an Internet conference held on February 12, 1997. During his speech he confirmed that he was currently working on a draft of The Martian Chronicles for Steven Spielberg. [Project and scoop information sent in by Gary Whitta.]
May 18, 1997... Martian Addendum:
Ray Bradbury has just finished the first draft of The Martian Chronicles and has turned it in to Spielberg and company. A main part of the script deals with the exploration of Martian caverns and other landscapes. [Scoop by Brian Varland.]
This scooper reports that Spielberg will sign on as producer, and that he is considering such directors as Barry Sonnenfeld or Jan De Bont. [Scoop sent in anonymously.]
Another scooper has heard that Bradbury recently expressed he will only allow his books to be made into movies if he has the power to approve or turn down the script. [Handed in by 'cjepsen'.]
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