ROBOPOCALYPSE (Spielberg - 2013)

Quote :

When making blockbusters, it is usually safer to spread the investment out over a number of players. And when it is Steven Spielberg making the blockbuster, one knows it will be a big investment. Just under a year ago it was announced that the director will be taking on Daniel H. Wilson‘s Robopocalypse novel as a future feature. DreamWorks was on board, but now they are getting a little help, Deadline reports. THR also lets us know when we’ll see the film in theaters.

Fox will help DreamWorks co-finance the film, and the studio will also handle foreign distribution. Disney will assist DreamWorks with domestic marketing and distribution when the film hits stateside on July 3rd, 2012. Its only competition at the time is Despicable Me 2 with Guillermo del Toro‘s Pacific Rim coming out the following week, followed by Joseph Koskinski‘s Tom Cruise-led Oblivion.

Scripted by Cloverfield‘s Drew Goddard, one can check out the full synopsis below.

In the near future, at a moment no one will notice, all the dazzling technology that runs our world will unite and turn against us. Taking on the persona of a shy human boy, a childlike but massively powerful artificial intelligence known as Archos comes online and assumes control over the global network of machines that regulate everything from transportation to utilities, defense and communication. In the months leading up to this, sporadic glitches are noticed by a handful of unconnected humans – a single mother disconcerted by her daughter’s menacing “smart” toys, a lonely Japanese bachelor who is victimized by his domestic robot companion, an isolated U.S. soldier who witnesses a ‘pacification unit’ go haywire – but most are unaware of the growing rebellion until it is too late.

When the Robot War ignites — at a moment known later as Zero Hour — humankind will be both decimated and, possibly, for the first time in history, united.

Spielberg also has The Adventures of Tintin and his drama War Horse both hitting theaters in December 2011. His biopic Lincoln will unspool during the heated Oscar race in late 2012.

http://thefilmstage.com/news/steven-spielbergs-robopocalypse-sets-july-2013-release-date-and-adds-financing-from-fox/

I haven't read the novel, but from the synopsis it seems derivative of several other dystopian sci-fi literature. Having said that, I trust Spielberg will be able to rise beyond the trappings of the source, as with MINORITY REPORT. He seems to have an affinity for these kind of scenarios.

Vending machines have feelings too. That's why I like beating the crap out of them.

Plus the popular carbonated beverages taste so much better afterwards.

Already saw TERMINATOR 2.

Didn't like it.

I can't figure out how to say the title.

The White Tuxedo wrote:

I can't figure out how to say the title.

ROBO - POCALYPSE.

Harmsway wrote:

The White Tuxedo wrote:

I can't figure out how to say the title.

ROBO - POCALYPSE.

Ah, that I can read.

The full title nearly gave me a seizure.

Mr. Brown wrote:

Already saw TERMINATOR 2.

Didn't like it.

Yeah, there are definitely some lawsuit-worthy snatches in the synopsis.

I'm equally disinterested. CGI + Derivative story + Modern Spielberg = Meh. Bring on Transformers 4.

Mr. Brown wrote:

Already saw TERMINATOR 2.

Didn't like it.

Granted, ROBOPOCALYPSE does sound highly unoriginal, but at the same time I'm getting an AI vibe from the plot description as much as I'm geting a T2 vibe. And since I like both T2 and AI (AI is in many ways one of Spielberg's most interesting efforts), and since I generally trust Spielberg when it comes to sci-fi (not always, though - WAR OF THE WORLDS is very poor), I'm definitely intrigued by this flick.

Horrible title, though.

Sounds like the ultimate Michael Bay flick.

From the synopsis, I'm also getting hints of Issac Asimov's I, ROBOT (I've blocked the film out of my memory).