Whether by accident or design, Denis Villenueve now has to be viewed as one of Hollywood’s foremost sci-fi filmmakers, but he’s made a concerted shift away from original fare and onto recognizable properties.
Arrival may have landed plenty of critical acclaim and awards season glory, but then he tackled big budget sequel Blade Runner 2049, which drew strong reviews but flopped at the box office. Giving it the old college try once again, he found major success with Dune, with the opening chapter currently sitting on a box office haul of $390 million.
As per The Hollywood Reporter, Villenueve is set to tackle yet another genre classic, directing what we can expect to be an epic adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke’s Rendezvous with Rama. Interestingly, Morgan Freeman is listed as one of the producers, and he once held onto the rights to the original novel in the event that it ended up getting a big-screen makeover.
The story unfolds in the 2130s and involves a hulking starship entering the solar system, with a group of human explorers embarking on an intercept mission to discover and unlock the mysteries contained within. That sounds right up Villenueve’s alley, but we won’t be seeing it for a while given that production on Dune: Part Two is poised to kick off next summer.