Roland Emmerich’s micro-budget alien invasion movie The Zone has been shut down just a week before it was set to go in front of cameras.
The found-footage film - which Emmerich was going to make for just $5m, and would have been a departure for the director’s usual gargantuan-budget CGI-fests - has inexplicably been shut down.
His reps just had this to say: “This is not a project (Emmerich) is pursuing at this time.”
Though Emmerich has yet to comment on the situation himself, it’s a possibility that Hollywood’s sudden obsession with found-footage movies is the cause of The Zone getting the boot.
That said, Paranormal Activity 2 drew big numbers, and $5m is barely a blip on the scale where Hollywood movies are concerned, so it’s difficult to understand why a studio wouldn’t mind chucking so little at Emmerich to see what he produces.
Does this mean the director will return to his usual giant actioners now that his attempt at a smaller-scale movie has fallen through? Keep watching those skies…
