- Andy Weir, author of "The Martian", has set up an untitled movie project at Fox with producers Ridley Scott through his Scott Free Productions and Simon Kinberg through his Genre Films, Varity said.
Fox bought Weir’s pitch and hired him to write the script for the project, which will be Weir’s first screenplay. The studio is keeping the logline under wraps.
Weir self-published "The Martian" as his first novel in 2011 as a free serial on his website, then sold it on Amazon Kindle before selling the rights to Crown Publishing, where it became a New York Times bestseller. He has since published short story "The Egg" and "Across the Lake."
"The Martian" movie adaptation received seven Academy Award nominations, including best picture for Scott, Kinberg, Michael Schaefer and Mark Huffman, best actor for Matt Damon and best adapted screenplay for Drew Goddard.
Fox set up another project last week with Scott, Goddard and Kinberg, tapping Scott to direct the Western "Wraiths of the Broken Land" from Goddard’s script. Scott, Goddard and Kinberg are producing "Wraiths" with Scott Free’s Schaefer and Aditya Sood.
Steve Asbell is overseeing both projects for Fox.
Scott has started shooting "Alien: Convenant" in New Zealand for Fox as a sequel to "Prometheus" with Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Danny McBride and Demián Bichir starring. The film is scheduled to be released on Aug. 4, 2017.
The news about Weir’s project was first reported by Deadline Hollywood.
