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Roland Emmerich's Secret Sci-Fi Project 'The Zone' Shuts Down

by Ethan Anderton
November 10, 2010
Source: Heat Vision

Back at the end of October we heard about yet another alien invasion project from Roland Emmerich (2012, Independence Day) which was also another in a series of films employing the "found footage" narrative device like the recent horror hit Paranormal Activity. Unlike his previous blockbusters, the film boasted an improv-based cast of unknowns with a measly $5 million budget. However, it looks like the influx of found footage driven films has taken its toll on Emmerich's project as Heat Vision reports production on The Zone has been shut down. No specific reasons are given for the halt, but a couple speculative reasons are mentioned. Read on!

Representatives for Emmerich issued a solitary statement about the production stop by simply saying, ""This is not a project [Roland Emmerich] is pursuing at this time." While the definitive reason for the halt is unknown, Heat Vision speculates that the found footage device in storytelling is becoming too abundant for yet another film to employ the narrative method. Though The Blair Witch Project launched the unique method of storytelling over a decade ago, recent hits like Cloverfield and Paranormal Activity have made similar stories even more popular with studios. The Zone would've followed actors Peter Mackenzie and Brandon Scott as a journalist and a cameraman caught up in an alien invasion.

In a related reason, they also point out that The Zone would have been released just after another recently announced found footage project, Timur Bekmambetov's Apollo 18, hit theaters in March. So the "staring contest" between Bekmambetov and Emmerich already has a winner, but Heat Vision points out the projects are different enough that both films could have likely co-existed peacefully. Personally, I'm not sure why the project hasn't simply been given a later release date, but there you have it. I suppose there's always a chance that the project will get revived down the road, but for now it's dead in the water. Disappointed?

Filed under Movie News, Opinions

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http://ifyoulive.blogspot.com Chad

I am, I like aliens and as the recent trend of refreshed ideas have been coming out in big and epic ways, I was hoping for a nice flick with cool sub meanings. I like the sound of the Apollo movie though, and hope to hear more.
lmao

lol, soooo retarded, not even funny - what could they have fucking lost if they made this? 5 million is practically NOTHING for a studio backed project.
Gary the Bruce

There are way too many alien invasion flicks in the making, just look at these titles present and in the near future : Monsters (Blair Witch style - didn't really take off) Skyline (very good trailer) Battle Los Angeles Cowboy vs Aliens Super 8 (Cloverfield unofficial sequel, another Blair Witch style) Alien Prequel And that crazy Scandinavian flick about Nazis invading Earth from their secret moon base !!! Don't you think H'wood is done over-saturating the market with this sub-genre? The last great one is Spielberg's War of the Worlds. And Monsters vs Aliens is pretty funny at least.
Hattori Hanzo

Maybe the studio head dropped it after he finally stopped laughing and realised that Emmerich was serious about making a movie for $5 million.