Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson will be returning to outer space sometime in the next few years as the star of Alpha Squad Seven, a freshly greenlit movie that had studios engaged in a furious bidding war over the past two weeks. According to The Hollywood Reporter:
The plot details are being kept on the dark side of the moon but the project is described as four-quadrant action-comedy adventure set in space. Independence Day, Armageddon and Guardians of the Galaxy are some of the watchwords. The project is meant to act as a two-hander as well as launch a potential franchise.
The writers, who have several projects, mostly comedies, set up at studios ranging from Columbia to Universal, got the ball going less than two weeks ago over a dinner with Flynn and his exec Wendy Jacobson with only a one-line idea.
Lots of movies languish in development hell for years, but say you’re going to put The Rock in a potential franchise that’s Guardians of the Galaxy meets Independence Day with Armageddon undertones and studio execs will be popping boners so hard sales of Viagra in Hollywood are going to plummet.
This may be Dwayne Johnson’s first non-children targeted science fiction movie since Doom back in 2005, although who knows how young it’s going to skew – these are the same producers who put The Rock in Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. They’re also responsible for last summer’s Hercules and the upcoming San Andreas, so you know they’ve got the Rock + Summer Popcorn Movie = $$$ formula on lockdown.
No word on who will be the second major star in this “two-hander”, or if we’re going to get a Furious-style ensemble to make up the seven in Alpha Squad Seven. Sadly, I doubt Stephen Colbert’s Alpha Squad Seven character Tek Jensen will show up in the movie.
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(Via The Hollywood Reporter)
