After focusing on Fox’s upcoming The Exorcist TV series, director Rupert Wyatt is returning to feature films with Captive State. Wyatt will direct from a script he co-wrote Erica Beeney. There are currently no details on the plot other than it’s a sci-fi film, and it will go into production sometime in 2017.
According to Variety, “a competitive auction is underway, with a mix of studios and financiers currently chasing the property. The parties involved expect a deal to be sealed before Labor Day weekend.”
Even though his previous film, The Gambler, didn’t catch on with audiences or critics, Wyatt is still a popular director, especially after successfully rebooting the Planet of the Apes franchise with Rise of the Planet of the Apes. He was attached to direct Gambit at one point, but dropped off last September due to a scheduling conflict.
Hopefully we’ll learn more soon about Wyatt’s sci-fi film, especially in terms of scale since it’s rare to see tentpole sci-fi films not based on pre-existing material, so perhaps the director is going for something more low-key like Ex Machina. Captive State also marks the first feature Wyatt has penned since his breakthrough film The Escapist.
