To those outside of the sci-fi circles, Isaac Asimov’s name may not ring any bells. But you’re probably familiar with his work since I, Robot was adapted into a feature film back in 2004...which is seven years ago now. Asimov developed and utilized the widely known three laws of robotics that almost always apply to mechanoid characters in books or film. Now, another of Asimov’s famous works is being tapped to get the Hollywood treatment and we can only hope things turn out better than that Will Smith movie.
According to our sister site GiantFreakinRobot, Sony Pictures has snatched up the rights to Foundation, Asimov’s most famous series. Foundation centers on a Hari Seldon, a mathematician who has discovered a way to predict the future. Already this is enough to pitch to a studio exec, but mix in the fact that Hari sees the fall of man and now you’ve got something really interesting. With the knowledge of the end times, Hari sets in motion a plan to avert the world ending crisis.
Though it sounds like a story on a massive scale, it is mostly told through vignettes about the people involved in Seldon’s humanity-saving plan. Their stories span centuries and galaxies but everything ties back to Seldon’s original outline. It is a vast story told on a manageable scale.
On board to adapt is screenwriter Dante Harper, a relative unknown in the industry. He has a huge task ahead of him to not only appease the millions of sci-fi fans who are doubtlessly already pissed that their precious Asimov is being bastardized for the big screen, as well as presenting a good enough movie to get normal people to the theater and make enough money to warrant sequels. Asimov’s extended Foundation series spans seven novels and Sony would love to get through them all, but if they can’t get the series off the ground, they’ve got the rights to adaptations that won’t go anywhere. More on Foundation as the script nears completion.
