By Don Kaye, Source: Blastr.com
The British sci-fi classic The Day of the Triffids is headed to the big screen once again … and this time Sam Raimi is behind the project.
Raimi, director of the Evil Dead and Spider-Man films, is putting his producer hat on for a new version of John Wyndham’s 1951 novel, which established Wyndham as one of the most important science fiction writers of his era. Raimi and his longtime business partner, Rob Tapert, are co-producing the movie through their Ghost House Pictures production company in conjunction with the Mark Gordon Company.
Neil Cross, who wrote the upcoming horror film Mama and did some work on the script of Pacific Rim for Guillermo Del Toro, has landed the job of writing the screenplay for The Day of the Triffids. A director has yet to be named, although it would be kind of cool if Raimi would take the gig himself (he’s recently been behind the camera for Oz, the Great and Powerful).
The Day of the Triffids deals with two threats to humanity: a worldwide plague of blindness brought about by a mysterious meteor shower, and the rapid spread of giant, aggressive and possibly intelligent plants know as triffids. The book was first filmed in 1962, and later made into a miniseries by the BBC twice, in 1981 and 2009.
Raimi and Tapert have had a string of successes under the Ghost House banner, including the 2004 remake of The Grudge and its 2005 sequel, 2007’s grisly adaptation of 30 Days of Night and Raimi’s own 2009 directorial effort, Drag Me to Hell.
Do you think that Raimi can make The Day of the Triffids into a classic all over again for a whole new generation of audiences?