2012 has come and gone without the kind of massive world-ending tragedy that some feared (and many more joked) would be signaled by the abrupt end of the Mayan calendar, an event immortalized in Roland Emmerich's splashy action-adventure 2012. The master of disaster movies is currently on post-production on White House Down. But while he tackles the troubling topic of terrorists invading 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, his Independence Day, Stargate and Godzilla co-writer Dean Devlin is selling a new form of global disaster, and cashing in big.
Deadline reports Devlin and writing partner Paul Guyot have "pre-emptively" sold their spec script to Skydance Production for an untitled global catastrophe movie for a whopping seven-figure pay day. Devlin's own production company Electric Entertainment will produce the pic alongside Skydance's founder David Ellison (Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol), and Dana Goldberg (I Am Legend). While this might sound a ripe property for Devlin's long-time collaborator Emmerich to helm, the untitled disaster pic will instead mark Devlin's feature directorial debut.
Asked for details on what kind of disaster would befall the world in this movie, Devlin and Ellison offered nothing. However, they did share compliments about each other, and an apparent earnestness in working together, with Ellison saying, "I’m thrilled to be working with him on his directorial debut, as this project is perfect for both of our sensibilities.” We assume that means tons of fast-paced action sequences.
There's no word yet on when this nameless adventure will lens, but Skydance has a full slate coming in 2013, including G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Star Trek Into Darkness, World War Z and the Chris Pine vehicle Jack Ryan.
