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Neill Blomkamp's Disaster Film Greenland Casts Chris Evans in Lead Role
Neill Blomkamp's upcoming disaster thriller Greenland has cast Chris Evans in the lead role. This will mark one of Evans' first major projects following his concluding arc as Captain America in Anthony and Joe Russo's untitled Avengers 4 next year, which is supposed to be the actor's final appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Blomkamp originally made a splash with his directorial debut District 9, which combined social commentary with bug-like aliens. He then followed that up with Elysium and Chappie before shifting focus to his Oats Studios company, which produces online shorts. Over the last few years, Blomkamp has been very vocal in his desire to direct an Alien sequel that would bring back Ripley and Hicks, but despite a great deal of online support for the project, Blomkamp confirmed that he has 'moved on' from it. While he's remained out of the spotlight for a while now, he boarded the sci-fi thriller The Gone World last year and then even tried to get the online-short Firebase developed into a feature production. At the moment, it's unclear what's happening with those projects, but it seems that Blomkamp is set on returning to the big screen sooner rather than later.
Deadline reports that Neill Blomkamp's next film is Greenland, which will star Chris Evans as the head of a family that finds themselves fighting "for survival in the face of a cataclysmic natural disaster." Production group Anton is producing and co-financing the film alongside Thunder Road Pictures and Riverstone Pictures, with STX International handling the overseas distribution. Speaking about the deal, David Kosse, President of STX International said;
“Greenland is the kind of highly commercial genre fare that sees Neill Blomkamp doing what he does best: delivering a smart, fresh, high concept narrative in a world we can easily recognize. We were immediately attracted to this talent-driven, wide release, theatrical title that is so distinctive of the STX brand."
The lack of details and a synopsis makes it difficult to gauge what to expect from the film, but Evans' casting and Blomkamp's commitment to the project is encouraging. It's not linked to any Oats Studios short, so it must have attracted the filmmakers attention away from the studio for valid reasons. Given the obvious nods to global social issues in his past films, and the references to a "cataclysmic natural disaster," it's likely that this will be more than a simple effects-driven movie; it might hold some references to climate change or something similar. Even the title could be a hint towards that theme.
In the meantime, Greenland is expected to enter production later this year, which means audiences should learn more about the project before then. Furthermore, if filming wraps by the end of 2018 or in early 2019, it's possible that the movie could hit theaters in early 2020.
