According to The Hollywood Reporter, Roland Emmerich’s alien invasion flick, The Zone, is no more. While production was scheduled to begin next week, it has apparently been shut down.
“This is not a project (Emmerich) is pursuing at this time,” was the statement released from Emmerich’s team.
The alien invasion film was set to be directed in the style of recently popular ‘found footage’ or ‘low budget’ home footage flicks. Not much was known about The Zone, which was supposed to be filmed improv-based with little known actors. Peter Mackenzie and Brandon Scott were said to have played a journalist and a cameraman.
Could the demise of this movie be due to a premature scare of the ‘found footage’ genre decline? It’s hard to say as Paranormal Activity 2 recently did very well at the box office. The reason could lie in the Weinstein Co.’s recently acquired Timur Bekmambetov produced found footage project Apollo 18. With a screenplay by Brian Miller and Trevor Camwood directing, the company could have seen The Zone as an unlikely competitor upon release. What ever the reason, I would expect word soon on what Emmerich’s next project will be. He recently wrapped the Shakespearean political thriller Anonymous, which hits theaters Sept. 2011.
Are you disappointed that The Zone is no more?