It looks like an adaptation of Ender's Game might actually happen. Though the Orson Scott Card novel has been in development for years, it's always seems to be stuck in development hell. That's been turning around this year. Back in April Summit Entertainment announced that they would be starting production on Ender's Game in 2012 and, most recently, the project was given a March 15, 2013 release date. But neither of those announcements are as big as what we have for you today.
Deadline has learned that Asa Butterfield, who is the titular star of Martin Scorsese's upcoming family fantasy film Hugo, has been offered the lead role in the science-fiction film. Gavin Hood, who has been attached to the project since late 2010, is still attached to direct and it will be his first movie since 2009 (since then he's directed two episodes of the television series Breakout Kings and the TV movie Tough Trade. The movie, which is being produced by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, is set in the future when aliens attack Earth. Needing a line of defense, the government begins to recruit gifted children. The kids are then trained in the art of war at Battle School and play a series of increasingly challenging games to determine their skills. It's then discovered that one child, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, might be the one that they need to face off against the extraterrestrial forces.
Butterfield has a fairly limited filmmography (hard to blame him for that as he is only 14), but he has already begun getting considerable praise for his performance in Hugo. So what do you think, fans? Is Asa Butterfield a great choice for the lead in Ender's Game or not?
