When last we discussed Robopocalypse, it was to share director Steven Spielberg’s wish for Chris Hemsworth to play the lead.  Now, it appears that Spielberg would also like Anne Hathaway to join the picture opposite Hemsworth.  While the pairing surely has huge box office potential, Spielberg will still need a producer.  Cue Tom Rothman,  the outgoing head of Fox, who will join the picture in a producorial capacity.

Robopocalypse is based off of Daniel H. Wilson’s source novel, which takes place in a future where “artificial intelligence known as Archos comes online and assumes control over the global network of machines that regulate everything from transportation to utilities, defense and communication.”   The film will roll into production in early 2013 and will be released on April 25, 2014 day and date worldwide. Hit the jump to read the full press release.

It’s been a while since we’ve heard much regarding Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of the Daniel H. Wilson novel Robopocalypse. Almost a year ago, we reported that the director would make the pic his next film after War Horse (due out this December 28th). However, it now looks as if his historical drama Lincoln starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Tommy Lee Jones, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt will take on that role with a potential December 2012 release in sight. All of that no news stuff ends today, though, as reports are filing in that DreamWorks and Fox will co-finance Robopocalypse with the former distributing the film domestically and the latter internationally (news that should be welcomed by those hoping to see the film follow Lincoln).

Cloverfield‘s Drew Goddard has penned the script for Robopocalypse based upon the aforementioned Wilson novel which hit bookshelves this June. For those unfamiliar, the book is set in the near future and tells the story of an artificial intelligence named Archos who assumes the persona of an innocent boy and takes over control of the global network, turning our own technology against us. For a little more on the project, hit the jump to read a full synopsis of Wilson’s novel.

[Update: THR reports that Robopocalypse will hit theaters on July 3rd, 2013.]

Back in March, the sci-fi action film Robopocalypse became one of the many films added to the list of potential directing projects for Steven Spielberg.  In May, Spielberg selected the drama War Horse as his new film and filming is currently underway for a December 2011 release.  But Spielberg hasn’t left Robopocalypse behind as Deadline reports that the film will be his follow-up to War Horse.  Spielberg plans to shoot Robopocalypse in January 2012 and release it through Disney’s Touchstone Pictures in 2013.

Robopocalypse is based on an upcoming novel by Daniel H. Wilson, who previously penned How to Survive a Robot Uprising.  Although Wilson was still in the middle of writing Robopocalypse back in March, Spielberg was impressed enough by the material that he was having storyboards done while pages from the novel were being translated into a screenplay by Drew Goddard (Cloverfield).  Wilson’s novel is due to hit shelves in June 2011.

Hit the jump for a refresher on all of the projects that will continue to sit on the backburner while Spielberg plans robot doom.