Steven Spielberg's 'Robopocalypse' Gets Shelved Because It's 'Too Expensive To Produce'
Jan 10, 2013, 21:54 IST
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According to The Hollywood Reporter, DreamWorks future sci-fi apocalyptic film "Robopocalypse" has been shelved indefinitely — despite the director's 12 Oscar nominations this morning for his film "Lincoln."
Based on Daniel H. Wilson's 2011 bestseller of the same name, the story follows a future society completely reliant on robots which rises up and annihilates most of the human race save a small group planning to fight back.
DreamWorks and 20th Century Fox were to co-finance the project, which would have reunited Spielberg with Fox for the first time since "Minority Report" in 2002.
The film was also in talks to star both Anne Hathaway and Chris Hemworth and start production this spring with a 2014 release.
What put the brakes on the film?
Spielberg's spokesman Marvin Levy told THR it was "too important and the script is not ready, and it's too expensive to produce. It's back to the drawing board to see what is possible."
According to Reuters, budget estimates for the film coming in at around $160 million.
Another reason is that Spielberg wasn't happy with the current script.
Reuters reports that the current script being drafted by "The Cabin in the Woods" director Drew Goddard wasn't "landing where Steven wanted it."
It isn't the first time the film has been delayed.
Previously, the sci-fi movie had a release date of July 3, 2013.
"Robopocalypse" was set to be Steven Spielberg's next film following "War Horse," but after setting his sights on "Lincoln" the project was pushed back to a 2014 release.
There was already speculation Spielberg may look toward a different project after he expressed his boredom with action films on "60 Minutes" back in October.
"I could do the action in my sleep at this point in my career," said Spielberg. "In my life, the action doesn't hold any-- it doesn't attract me anymore."