James Cameron Will Direct The Informationist

Lightstorm Entertainment has acquired the film rights to The Informationist, based on the acclaimed 2011 novel from Taylor Stevens. James Cameron will direct the film for 20th Century Fox. Lightstorm's Jon Landau will produce alongside Cameron.

The story centers on Vanessa "Michael" Monroe, "an information specialist, whose work is in-demand by  corporations, heads of state, private clients, and anyone else who can pay for her unique brand of expertise. When a Texas oil billionaire hires her to find his daughter who vanished in Africa four years ago. Munroe finds herself back in the lands of her childhood. Betrayed, cut off from civilization, and left for dead, she must come face-to-face with the past that she’s tried for so long to forget."

Said Cameron, "Taylor Stevens' Vanessa Michael Munroe is an intriguing and compelling heroine with an agile mind and a thirst for adventure. Equally fascinating for me is her emotional life and her unexpected love story. I'm looking forwarding to bringing Vanessa and her world to the big screen." Current plans are for Cameron to direct the once he's finished working on the second and third Avatar films.

Although Cameron has claimed in recent years that he's strictly in "the Avatar business" from here on out, it seems the filmmaker has opened up to the idea of taking on other features later down the line. In addition to The Informationist, Cameron has expressed an interest in directing Battle Angel as well.

Max Nicholson is a writer for IGN, and he desperately seeks your approval. Show him some love by following @Max_Nicholson on Twitter, or MaxNicholson on IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Terry Brook's Shannara Heads to TV

Sonar Entertainment, in collaboration with Farah Films, is now developing a television show based on Terry Brooks' bestselling fantasy novel series Shannara.

Set hundreds of years after the fall of our own civilization, the story centers on the Shannara family, whose magical powers perpetually reshape the future of the world. According to Variety, the first season of the show will follow the events of The Elfstones of Shannara, the second book in the series.

"Partnering with Sonar Entertainment and Farah Films on adapting the Shannara saga for television is an exciting prospect," said Brooks in a statement. "Everything about both companies suggests the result will be one that both old and new fans of the books will readily embrace. I am committed to doing everything I can to help make this happen."

Dan Farah and Stewart Till are set to executive produce the TV series, and will begin the search for a showrunner and director before they shop the project to potential networks.

Source : ign[dot]com

Fox Heading to The Beach

Audiences could be set to return to The Beach, with Fox planning a TV version of the hugely popular Alex Garland novel.

The book – which revolves around a young traveller who discovers a secret island paradise – previously hit the big-screen in 2000 with Danny Boyle directing and Leonardo DiCaprio starring.

According to Deadline, the project is being written by Andrew Miller, who previously penned the original script for CW’s The Secret Garden, while 20th Century Fox TV will oversee the project.

Describing his take on the project, Miller said “It’s about a group of young people feeling disconnected and disenchanted from society who try to start over in paradise but discover that while creating the perfect world is hard, protecting it is even harder.”

Chris Tilly is the Entertainment Editor for IGN and wishes Ewan McGregor had starred in the movie of The Beach. His idle chat can be found on both Twitter and MyIGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Watch the Trailer for the Wachowskis' Cloud Atlas

Andy and Lana Wachowski's adaptation of David Mitchell's time-spanning novel Cloud Atlas has been pretty low profile up until this point, but it jumped onto the radar for a bunch of us today with the release of a stunning five-minute-plus trailer.

Check out the trailer at Apple, where you can also find an introduction to the film from the oft-elusive Wachowskis and their co-director Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run).

For those who aren't familiar with the book (like me), that trailer could be confusing. But it's also awesome, and isn't the point of a trailer to get prospective viewers interested and asking questions about a film? The trend these days to give away everything in a film's marketing campaign is a troubling one, so it's nice to have some mystery going into Cloud Atlas. That said, if you need some answers, Film.com is running a nifty "Beginner's Guide to Cloud Atlas" today that can at least answer your most basic questions.

The film, which stars Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Sturgess, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Hugh Grant, Ben Whishaw and many others, opens on October 26.

Talk to Movies Editor Scott Collura on Twitter at @ScottIGN, on IGN and on Facebook.

Source : ign[dot]com

Bourne Director Does Time and Again

Summit has picked up the rights to adapt the novel Time and Again to the big screen, with The Bourne Identity and Mr. and Mrs. Smith helmer Doug Liman set to direct and produce.

Variety has the report on the project. Written by Jack Finney, who is perhaps best known for his book The Body Snatchers (which has been adapted by Hollywood umpteen times), Time and Again is a 1970 illustrated novel about a modern man who seemingly travels back to 1882, where he falls in love.

Robert Redford tried adapting the tale for Universal back in the '90s, and it was also considered as a possible TV mini-series by Universal Television at one point, but nothing ever came of it. Perhaps Liman will be the man to finally get the job done.

Talk to Movies Editor Scott Collura on Twitter at @ScottIGN, on IGN and on Facebook.

Source : ign[dot]com