J.J. IS TRYING TO CAUSE AN EARTHQUAKE

By Sean Smyth

Abrams Tacks On Oscar Winning Writer For A Disaster. 

Deadline reports that  J.J Abrams (Mission Impossible 3 and Star Trek) has hired Oscar winning screenwriter, Dustin Lance Black (Milk and J. Edgar) to write an adaptation of the 1974 ensemble film classic Earthquake with Charleston Heston. Exciting no? 

Well you tell me... Abrams has become known for creating fantastic intimate story driven disaster films from producing Cloverfield to directing Super 8 and writing the screenplay for Armageddon. He even destroyed an entire planet in Stark Trek.  It's unclear to what extent Abrams will be involved with the Universal Studios project but one thing is for sure, this is not a reboot. 

Deadline explains that besides the title and the "trembling ground" there will be no other similarities between the two films. Which is good, because let's face it, reboots are getting old fast, so anyway to make an old story fresh is fine by me. 

Then throw in an Oscar winning Dustin Lance Black who is also known for intensely intimate character driven dramas? It sounds like this disaster film could be one of the few that actually make an interesting compelling story rather than a group or several groups of characters all just trying to survive. There could be more. There could be actual characters and not just caricatures or cliche's much like Day After Tomorrow, or 2012. 

I guess even writers have to be handsome in Hollywood these days... I'm screwed. 

The only thing I'd be worried about is that Black has had little, well zero, major action films under his repertoire. He is definitely a Dramatic writer. Hopefully Black won't be completely in the dark on the script and J.J can lend a helping hand in the disaster department while keeping a watchful eye on New Line's earthquake project San Andreas 3D, which is already in development, but I doubt it will be anywhere near as good as Bad Robot's (Abrams' production company) Earthquake. 

The script is a little while off as Black is working on an adaptation for Jon Krakauer novel Under The Banner of Heaven which will be directed by Ron Howard and 3 Story an adaptation of a Dark House graphic novel that he wants to direct himself. 

So there you have it. Are you excited to see a decent disaster film? Or are you just rolling your eyes at the thought of people running away from cracking sidewalks and crumbling buildings? Let's hear what you think. Comment below and thanks for reading.