After developing an ambitious, VFX-oriented adaptation of Paradise Lost for nearly a year only to have Legendary Pictures scrap the film due to budget issues, director Alex Proyas (The Crow) is on the hunt for new projects.  He recently became attached to direct an adaptation of the dark novella The Unpleasant Profession of Jonah Hoag, but Variety reports that he’s eyeing a more large-scale project as well.  Proyas is currently in negotiations to helm Summit’s Gods of Egypt, an adventure film “set against the legendary world of great pyramids and sphinxes” that follows a thief and a god on a magical quest.

Proyas’ deal includes him writing the script alongside Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, so he’ll have a fairly intricate hand in the development of the project. Gods of Egypt sounds like a fun idea if done right, and maybe Proyas can put to use some of the crazy VFX work he had planned for Paradise Lost.  No word on how soon the project would come to fruition, but given that Proyas wants to write the script I’d assume it’s a ways off.

Chernin Entertainment is near a deal to acquire an untitled pitch by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless after a bidding war.  Deadline neglects to offer a logline, but describes the story as “a futuristic Jungle Book.”  I am not sure how literally we’re meant to take the comparison, or even what the evolutionary Mowgli looks like.  Maybe he is raised by space wolves?

Peter Chernin and Dylan Clark of Chernin Entertainment will produce alongside Gore Verbinski and John Krauss of Blind Wink.  Sazama and Sharpless are also working with Verbinski on the live-action adaptation of the board game Clue.  Their first produced credit is still on the horizon, but in recent years Sazama and Sharpless have been tasked with a Missile Command, Flash Gordon, and Dracula Year Zero.  In case it’s relevant, I have included a synopsis of Rudyard Kipling’s book after the jump.

Universal’s movie deal with Hasbro has been a serious burden for the story.  Whether they make movies based on Hasbro products or not, the studio still has to pay out.  However, that means Universal has to find a way to create stories based on Ouija, Stretch Armstrong, and other board games and toys.  The luke-warm to derisive reaction to the Battleship trailer has to be making the company skittish to say the least.  Deadline reports that Universal now has a few less properties to worry about as they’ve dropped Gore Verbinski’s Clue along with Ridley Scott’s Monopoly and an adaptation of Magic: The Gathering (and I had saved up so much mana!).

However, none of these projects are dead.  Clue is moving forward with Verbinski still planning to direct with Hasbro producing and Burk Sharpless and Matt Sazama (the Flash Gordon remake) signed on to write the script.  Verbinski’s take reportedly retains the murder-mystery of the game but expands it to a global stage.  Please, please, please let someone say that the movie is Clue meets Risk as if the pieces got mixed up.  Hit the jump for more details on Universal’s other Hasbro properties.

Because movies based off of videogames always means high quality and big profits except in the case of never, Fox is adapting the 1980 Atari arcade game Missile Command.  According to Variety, screenwriters Burk Sharpless and Matt Sazama (reboot of Flash Gordon and Dracula: Year Zero) will pen the script while Peter Chernin and Dylan Clark will produce.  Like pretty much every video game released in 1980, Missile Command lacks a story.  The object of the game is to protect cities from a barrage of missiles, possibly from a command center.

This is the third Atari videogame getting a film adaptation.  Universal picked up Asteroids back in July 2009 while Sony Pictures Animation acquired Rollercoaster Tycoon last May.  While the lack of a story beyond “Fight missiles” could free up Sharpless and Sazama to do something creative, I’m betting the film will ultimately be a generic military thriller with maybe a sci-fi spin for good measure.