Genre: Science Fiction.
Studio:
Unknown.
Production Company:
Dimension Films.
Project Phase: Development Hell.
Who's In It:
Ben Kingsley.
Who's Making It:
Philip Eisner, Stuart Hazeldine (Screenwriters);
Edward Pressman, Tim Zinnemann (Producers); Akiva Goldsman, Alessandro Camon (Executive
Producers); based upon the property created by Target Games.
Premise: Unknown.
Release Date: Unknown.
Developments:
October, 1997... A new screenwriting team consisting of Philip Eisner and Stuart Hazeldine are working on the project.
Comments: None.
Rumors: Unknown.
Scoop Feedback:
August 8-13, 1996... John Carpenter has picked his next film, and this one is it. [Scoop filed by Christian and Jeremy Ritter.]
September 22, 1996... This person writes to tell us that Mutant Chronicles involves a elite squad of soldiers called Doomtroopers who try to prevent demonic mutants from taking over the world. The story takes place in a blasted future wasteland. [Scoop provided by James Furlong.]
A line of action figures, video games, comic books and a possible animated television series are also being developed in tandem with the feature film. [Scoop and additional project information supplied by 'maber'; orignally appeared in Hollywood Reporter.]
November 4, 1996... This scooper informs us that John Carpenter may have dropped out of the project. [Scoop sent in by 'timmyb'.]
January 12, 1997... Someone's heard that this project is being considered as a Jackie Chan vehicle. Really. [Scoop info supplied by James Furlong.]
July 8, 1997... Roger Christian may now be the latest director to tackle the project. According to this scooper, some sets are in the process of being constructed along with assorted "futuristic" props to be used in the film. which the scooper said looked "mindblowing." The storyline is still presently unknown, but the individual hazards to guess that it may show the awakening of the Dark Legions on the ice world of Nero. [Scoop sent in by 'csc5sdc'.]
October 26, 1997... The project has a new screenwriting team - Philip Eisner (Event Horizon) and Stuart Hazeldine (who's proposed Alien 4: Earthbound story is chronicled on our Alien Resurrection page.) [Submitted by an anonymous source.]
But there was a previous draft of the property, y'know. Luckly for us, one of our readers got their hands on a copy and sent us in their review of it...
"I just finished reading the first draft screenplay for The Mutant Chronicles (dated February 6, 1997).
"The premise is that in the early 25th century, a mining company accidentally opens the gates of hell, unleashing the Legions of Darkness. One heroic warrior, Nathaniel the Untainted stood against them long enough to allow humans to escape to the moon, Mars, and Venus. Nathaniel became a god figure. People now, centuries later, wait for him to return to lead them back to Earth and defeat the Legions of Darkness.
"This draft did away with the 'doomships' and 'doom troopers' present in the role playing game, though a friend of mine who read an earlier version last fall while it was being shopped as a possible childrens' animated series told me that the toyline is still being developed with that premise in mind.
"The story begins when the Legion of Darkness suddenly invades the moon, taking the main character's brother hostage. Following a man who claims to be the second coming of Nathaniel, the main character and a small team of others go to earth to defeat the demons from hell. The demons, when they capture a human, put them inside a great machine called the neckromachina that turns them into killer zombies, so our heroes must not only fight demons but also mutant former humans.
"This script seems to be a Judge Dredd knockoff (though it makes Judge Dredd look like Heidi). The government of the future is a thinly-veiled medeival Catholic Church, which is also threatening to destroy the main characters. To say that the script is not promising would be too kind. The characters are all one-dimensional and the storyline strains believability way beyond the breaking point.
"OK, normally I don't like to give away endings, but this one is too rich to keep to myself. The story ends when our main character realizes he is the second coming of Nathaniel, and goes into the giant machine that turns people into mutants. The machine magically explodes because Nathaniel has returned, destroying the demons' power, and our heroes emerge from the machine unscathed and victorious. The most innovative part of this script is that it manages to *literally* have a _deus ex machina_ ending!
"I think this is one that I'll wait to see on video." [Review sent to us anonymously.]
October 28, 1997... Looks like our posting of the anonymous script review generated some feedback. Here's what someone had to say about it:
"The first draft of Mutant Chronicles was NOT dated February 1997, but rather mid-1995, where it went through a variety of changes and polishes through the fall and winter at Pressman Films. I read these early drafts by Philip Eisner -- described by Ed Pressman meets (get this) The Name of the Rose meets Alien -- and to say it's weak is an understatement. Some of the ideas are cool, and the sketches and drawings I saw were impressive in a Gigeresque-death metal kind of way, but the script is paper thin, an effort to create a 'franchise' without thinking how to start the damn thing. Steve Norrington was the first director on board, and the picture might have been a go if they'd landed an actor to package it together -- but alas, they were turned down by everyone from Ed Harris to Viggo Mortenson to even Russell Crowe; in fact the only person who would attach himself to the script was Ben Kingsley as the Lead Inquisitor, to the tune of $1.5 million. Norrington, after a long wait, left the project to direct Blade, and in stepped John Carpenter. At this point, Pressman had sent the script out to a number of script doctors, including Frank Darabont, all of whom turned him down. At one point Akiva Goldsman was said to be 'shepherding' the project through its various drafts (whatever that means), but who knows if that's the case now. The last I heard was the Roger Christian information. Regardless, it would take a great deal of money to get the film off the ground properly, and given Pressman's predilection for tight-fistedness and his inability to get name projects either done properly (The Island of Dr. Moreau, the abysmal Crow 2) or done at all (Elfquest is still in development hell after almost 10 years!), it's unlikely that Mutant Chronicles is going to be hitting the multiplexes any time soon. The tag line on the poster mock-up in Pressman's office was: 'The darkest age is yet to come. Have faith,' under a Gothic/death metal stone skull motif." [Sent to us by an anonymous Doomtrooper.]
December 2, 1997... A voice from the darkness has whispered in our ear, and they told us the project has been rapidly developing. Armed with a fully revamped script, the film got the support of actor Ben Kingsley, and what he saw made him commit to starring in it. At the start of December, no less than three studios are looking closely at the project while the producers aggressively pursue a leading man to round out the package. With all the elements drawing together, the project may get greenlighted sooner than you think. [Thanks to our anonymous source, our fav'rite zombie killer.]