DreamWorks Studios has optioned film rights to Platinum Studios Inc.’s comic book series Atlantis Rising and plans to make a live-action feature based on the sci-fi tale created by Platinum chairman and CEO Scott Mitchell Rosenberg. The five-part miniseries was first published by Platinum Studios Comics in November of 2007. The fifth and final installment in the series is due on comic book shelves later this month.
In Atlantis Rising, seismic disturbances at sea force world militaries to investigate the deepest part of our ocean, where an underground civilization emerges to wage war with planet Earth. The property is Platinum’s second to be optioned by DreamWorks. The studio nabbed rights to Cowboys and Aliens last year and is currently developing the sci-fi western adventure with Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci of DreamWorks-based Imagine Entertainment.
‘Atlantis Rising is a provocative sci-fi thriller that, at its core, echoes the global debate on our impact on the environment,’ Rosenberg comments. ‘To again be working with the creative duo of DreamWorks and Kurtzman/Orci, I believe will give the project a bold and enthralling take on this classic myth.’
‘No sea horses or tridents here,” add Kurtzman and Orci. ‘The comic brings a fresh, techno-thriller approach to a story that holds all the tenets of a classic us-versus-them alien invasion movie.’
Rosenberg, Kurtzman and Orci will serve as producers on the pic. The Greenberg Group CEO and former Universal Pictures senior exec Randy Greenberg will exec produce and Platinum Studios’ Rich Marincic will co-produce.
Kurtzman and Orci have an overall producing deal with DreamWorks Studios. They are currently producing the action thriller Eagle Eye for release in theaters this September. They have also written several screenplays for DreamWorks projects, including the Michael Bay thrill rides Transformers and The Island, and are currently at work on Transformers 2. Among their other writing credits are Mission: Impossible III, The Legend of Zorro and J.J. Abrams’ 2009 Star Trek reboot, which they are also exec producing. They previously served as producers and writers on Abrams’ hit TV series Alias, and are now exec producing the action/drama Fringe, scheduled to debut on Fox in the fall.
