Mike Flanagan is going to become a hot director at some point, it’s just a matter of the bigger movie studios catching on. Oculus was enjoyably spooky (give or take a slightly lousy ending), his Ouija prequel was surprisingly good, and his home-invasion thriller Hush even made our list of the “Best Movies Of 2016 That We Didn’t Review.” Now, Sony has hired him to write and direct Inherit The Earth, a project with a slightly complicated history that has been in the works since 2011. Based on the IDW comic Zombies Vs. Robots, the film was originally being developed by Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes, but then Sony picked up the rights and changed the name to Inherit The Earth. As of last year, Dallas Buyers Club screenwriter Craig Borten and Shrek director Andrew Adamson were working on it, but they’re apparently off the project now.
According to Deadline, Flanagan is “reconceiving the whole project,” and it will only be “loosely based on” the work that has already been done. As for what Inherit The Earth is actually about, the story says it will focus on a robot that is tasked with protecting a young girl during a zombie apocalypse. That’s also what the comic is about, but it seems safe to assume that the similarities will end there.