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Fox Options Ray Bradbury's Sci-Fi Book 'Martian Chronicles'

by Alex Billington
June 24, 2010
Source: 24 Frames

There's that "magic word" again - Avatar. Hollywood, especially 20th Century Fox, is going crazy for sci-fi, which may be good thing for sci-fi fans (like myself). 24 Frames reports that Fox has optioned the rights to adapt Ray Bradbury's classic sci-fi novel The Martian Chronicles, another Mars story where Earthlings mingle with Mars martians, similar to Disney's already in development John Carter of Mars adaptation. The news hasn't been officially confirmed by Fox yet, so there's no details on who may be writing or directing, but hopefully we'll hear more soon, as this is definitely going to quickly become a high profile sci-fi project.

The Martian Chronicles, a collection of short stories first published in 1950, chronicle the colonization of Mars by humans fleeing from a troubled and eventually atomically devastated Earth, as well as the conflict between aboriginal Martians and the new colonists. It was adapted once before into a TV miniseries in the 80's, but if that Avatar reference is any early indication (which it probably isn't), they may be going all out in this contemporary version. Producer John Davis, of Predators, Marmaduke, and lots more, optioned the rights and will be developing. I'm a very big sci-fi fan, so I'm all for this, as there can never be enough sci-fi!

Explore tags: Hype, Movie News, Opinions

Xerxex

At least it has a better stroy than Avatar. I'm in.
Eli

agreed. Avatar was breathtaking to look at and the script (dialouge) was pretty solid. However, its story was just like everything we've heard before. it's execution was good. As long as this doesn't have a Firefly feel to it, I'm in. Sci-fi has been my thing for a while now.
art seike

"another Mars story where Earthlings mingle with Mars martians, similar to Disney's already in development John Carter of Mars adaptation." Really? Similar? Have you read either work? The only thing these two seminal works have in common is the word Mars.
Kevin

@ #3... heehee, you're absolutely correct about that. They're going to screw this up because there's really no way to do justice to this book... there are too many stories and none of them are action oriented in the least. And I really don't want to see them mangle any part of my all-time favorite story "There Will Come Soft Rains".
http://www.fastcolorprinter.com/ Jessica

I went an saw this movie and was shocked i heard ppl sayin it was hoorible and i have to say i think Avatar was argubly one of the best movies of the year i think it was a perfect way to cap off 2009!!!! its not a question but feel free to leave comments on what you thought if you saw it
beavis

#5.........avatar WAS a HORRIBLE movie. as a technological feat, it was brilliant - the look was amazing - but that's it. the story was thin and (unlike #2) i think the dialogue was laughable.......not to mention it appeared cameron has run out of original ideas and just blatantly RIPPED OFF multiple other movies and rehashed stock movie characters throughout the film. like i said - avatar was a BRILLIANT visual achievement - but nothing more.
Mickey Royko

This is a nice move by Fox. Great Martian series, I read as a kid. Also, is George Lucas feeling sorry for Megan Fox? She is being considered to star with Shia LeBeouf and Denzel Washington in the new installment of Indiana Jones, “Indiana Jones and the Lost Tribes of Israel.”
Eli

mickey im gonna pretend you didnt say that. even as a joke it wasnt funny.
Alex C.

Martian Chronicles is a delicate, dreamlike and even poetic SF classic. Either Fox will distort, pervert and ultimately screw it up for the sake of short-term gain (if they target the standard teenage brainless audience - or what a major thinks this type of audience needs), or they can turn it into a masterpiece like Peter Jackson's LOTR - a respectful and inspired adaptation of another classic - which was watched, rewatched and bought all over the world by all types of audiences. For their own long-term financial sake they should aim for the latter option. Fingers crossed, lads!
Tony G.

I have been hoping Hollywood would do this justice for a long time now. Secretly I've been wanting to see Usher II (one of the best stories in the book) brought to the big screen and I think they could do it too as long as they give it kind of a nostalgic look sort of a 1950's sci-fi feel. Bradbury is not getting any younger and I think it would be great if he got to see his vision (written before 1950 on a rented typewriter in a library basement) brought to life on the big screen. I'm crossing my fingers that this gets made especially since a lot of the recent sci-fi has been so crappy. I just read on worstpreviews.com that producer John Davis (Alien vs. Predator, I Robot) has acquired rights to this movie...not entirely sure how I feel about that one. Please don't screw it up.