Warner Spends Lots for All You Need Is Kill

News, Projects

Warner Bros. has paid screenwriter Dante Harper at least $1 million for a spec script that is an adaptation of a Japanese novel called All You Need Is Kill. Harper has been making some noise in Hollywood, having written projects for Paramount (Black Hole) and director Bennett Miller (The Immortalist) and his own passion project, Dreamland, about domestic terrorist Timothy McVeigh, a drama he hopes to direct himself.

One of the big sale points is that it is a film that can be made quickly. Therefore, Warner Bros. included with the deal an “aggressive progress to production clause” that will move the film into production in 12 months.

Originally written by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, All You Need Is Kill is a Japanese novel about an alien invasion. As a twist, it has a Groundhog Day-like plot device where one soldier is caught in some sort of repetitive time loop. A raw recruit, pressed into battle against an alien species, gets killed in action. But he is reborn each day to suffer the same fate. Eventually, he notices that he is becoming a better warrior and that other circumstances are changing, which might be the key to altering the outcome.

The Pulse: Congrats to Harper. Getting a project off the ground in Hollywood is a feat in itself, but Harper, working on spec, has leapfrogged the pitch sessions and a made his first seven-figure payday. Science-fiction is got a creative boost last year with films like District 9 and Moon, and the genre looks to excel with Duncan Jones’ Source Code and Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity with Robert Downey Jr. attached.

I got to say that I like the concept of this project. Considering that Ender’s Game is one of my favorite books and it looks to be in development purgatory at the moment, the thought of an intergalactic movie that’s like a mesh between Groundhog Day and Starship Troopers is cool in my book. Now get a competent director and a good cast and now we’re talking.

Travis Leamons is one of the Inside Pulse Originals and currently holds the position of Managing Editor at Inside Pulse Movies. He's told that the position is his until he's dead or if "The Boss" can find somebody better. I expect the best and I give the best. Here's the beer. Here's the entertainment. Now have fun. That's an order!