Ahh yes… Area 51. A top secret government compound known for its research in experimental aircraft… not to mention UFOs and time travel(!). I’m actually a bit surprised that we haven’t seen a feature film dealing with Area 51 yet, although it has been the subject of some X-Files episodes and a few movies have probably referenced it in passing. Now it looks like we may finally get an Area 51 movie, but it’s probably not you’re thinking… it’s based on the video game by Midway.

Although the video game, which was inspired loosely by the 90’s arcade game, does deal with some of the popular conspiracy theories, it’s still just another generic first person shooter. It mainly revolves around some sort of mutagenic viral outbreak. In other words, I don’t think I’m all that interested in seeing a movie about it. Except… they’ve just now announced that comic scribe Grant Morrison (The Invisibles, We3, Doom Patrol, New X-Men) will be writing the screenplay! Morrison is one of my absolute favourite comic writers; he’s a guy who manages to work some of the most bizarre and imaginative concepts into an otherwise straightforward medium. I’m interested to see what kind of story he turns in here, especially if they give him free reign. Dean Georgaris (Tristan & Isolde, Paycheck, Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life) wrote a previous draft of the script, but I guess it just didn’t cut it.

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