With the fate of his Alien film up in the air, director Neill Blomkamp has another project to work on in the meantime.
Deadline reported on Tuesday that 20th Century Fox has picked up the rights to Thomas Sweterlitsch’s upcoming time travel novel The Gone World, which still hasn’t been published. Fox is in talks with Blomkamp to direct and Chernin Entertainment will produce.
Blomkamp’s next film was supposed to be Alien 5 at Fox, but Ridley Scott decided that he wanted to make a Prometheus sequel first. Scott, who directed the first Alien film in 1979, even decided to call Prometheus 2 Alien: Paradise Lost and hopes to start filming early next year. Therefore, Blomkamp’s film has been delayed indefinitely.
Blomkamp shot to fame with District 9, but his follow-ups haven’t done as well. Elysium was met with a mixed critical response, and Chappie mustered just $31 million in the U.S. earlier this year. All three of those films were released by Sony, so maybe a studio switch is what he needs to refresh his career.