Mars – Movie Smack Talk

Mike Flanagan has proven himself to be one of the top horror directors in the game. He’s the director behind Doctor Sleep, Gerald’s Game, and the creator behind the Netflix series The Haunting of Hill House.

The dude has found his space, and now he’s thriving in it.

It was just reported this week that Flanagan has signed on to direct the upcoming horror film set on Mars, The Season Of Passage.

Universal picked up the feature pitch from Intrepid Pictures. It’s based on the 1993 Christopher Pike novel of the same name.

Plot details are being kept secret; however, the Season of Passage centers around celebrity Dr. Lauren Wagner who was involved in a manned expedition to Mars. The whole world admired and respected her. But Lauren knew fear. Inside―voices entreating her to love them. Outside―the mystery of the missing group that had gone before her. The dead group. But were they simply dead? Or something else?

Flanagan has been in love with this story for years. He revealed on his Twitter account that he has been wanting to adapt the novel since he was a teenager.

He will co-write the script alongside his brother James Flanagan. No word on when production is set to begin, but I’m betting they’re wanting to have it ready by fall 2022.

Another alien movie? Sure. You can never have too many alien films. Jake Gyllenhaal, Ryan Reynolds and Rebecca Ferguson star in the sci-fi thriller as a group of ridiculously good-looking astronauts on a mission to find life on Mars.

The first trailer for Life was released during Sunday night’s episode of The Walking Dead. In the teaser, Ariyon Bakare’s character examines a large, single cell: “We’re looking at the first proof of life beyond Earth,” he proclaims.

And Reynolds, still trying to shake off those sarcasm-filled cobwebs from his time on Deadpool, jumps in with this line, “You’re finally a daddy. It’s going to be a big custody battle over this one.”

But then the trailer takes a violent turn when the organism attacks and kills the poor scientist. This film was written by the same writing team, Paul Wernick & Rhett Reese, behind Zombieland and Deadpool.

It’s scheduled to be released May 26, 2017. That’s Memorial Day weekend, so the studio is expecting big things from the movie.

Check out the official synopsis and trailer below…

“‘Life’ tells the story of the six-member crew of the International Space Station that is on the cutting edge of one of the most important discoveries in human history: the first evidence of extraterrestrial life on Mars. As the crew begins to conduct research, their methods end up having unintended consequences and the life form proves more intelligent than anyone ever expected.”