ARRIVAL and STRANGER THINGS Producers Working With James Ponsoldt on New Sci-Fi Film

If, a decade ago, you would have told me that two of my absolute favorite pieces of media from 2016 would come from the guy who directed the Night at the Museum movies, I'd have said you were nuts. But it actually happened, and Shawn Levy's 21 Laps production company produced both the Oscar-nominated Arrival and the incredibly addictive Stranger Things last year. The company is now continuing its exploration of science fiction; THR reports that they've hired The Spectacular Now, The End of The Tour, and Smashed director James Ponsoldt to direct a film adaptation of Larry Niven's 1971 short story "Inconstant Moon."

This story raises the question: How would you spend your last night on Earth? When the Moon suddenly starts shining brighter, Stan and Leslie realize the sun must have gone nova and they only have a few hours until the Earth rotates into the deadly sunshine.

Ponsoldt is a terrific filmmaker, and he definitely has the skills to ground a movie with a high concept like this with relatable, flawed, dramatic human characters. He has the Tom Hanks/Emma Watson movie The Circle coming out in a couple of months, and as soon as he's done on post-production for that project, he should be able to jump full-on into this one. Dan Casey (10 Cloverfield Lane, Godforsaken, Incognito) is writing the screenplay. Looking forward to this one?