Countering recent rumors that Steven Spielberg may not even direct “Robopocalypse,” DreamWorks issued a press release Monday saying that Spielberg would direct and produce the movie and that Tom Rothman is coming on board also as a producer.
The film, a DreamWorks and Twentieth Century Fox co-production, will begin principal photography in early 2013 and will be released on April 25, 2014 worldwide. The Walt Disney Studio’s Touchstone Pictures will distribute the film domestically with Twentieth Century Fox handling international distribution.
Exploring the fate of the human race following a robot uprising, “Robopocalypse” is being adapted for the screen by Drew Goddard and is based on the novel of the same name by Daniel H. Wilson. DreamWorks acquired the rights to Wilson’s unpublished manuscript in November 2009. Published by Doubleday on June 8, 2011, the book soon appeared on the New York Times best-sellers' list.
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“When someone like Tom is a free agent, you snatch him up fast," Spielberg said in a statement. "He has proven himself to be a necessity of this industry. At Fox he had already been an enthusiastic partner on ‘Robopocalypse,’ and it is to our advantage that he would come produce this film with me.”
Rothman recently resigned after 18 years at Twentieth Century Fox, the last 12 as Chairman and CEO.
"If you are in politics, you dream of a call from the White House, in baseball, from the Yankees, in movies, from Steven Spielberg," Rothman said in a statement. "'Robopocalypse’ is the kind of important epic entertainment, a big movie with big ideas, that Steven does better than any filmmaker on earth … I enjoyed the idea of being unemployed for a week, but this will be way more fun."
Meanwhile, CAA could not confirm reports that Anne Hathaway is circling the project.