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May 23, 2013

Roland Emmerich's '2012' Series Shelved

by Mike Moody, posted Feb 24th 2010 10:02AM

2012 posterIt seems a potential disaster has been averted.

Director Roland Emmerich, known to some as Michael Bay's top rival in the "who can make the crappiest blockbuster?" contest, says a TV series based on his latest movie, '2012', has been shelved.

Speaking to Movieweb, Emmerich said budget constraints have halted pre-production on the show, which would have served as a direct follow-up to his special effects-heavy disaster flick. The series was described as being similar in theme to 'Lost'. The plot would have followed survivors of the events depicted in the movie attempting to rebuild in Africa.

"It was just too big for TV, what we wanted to do," Emmerich said.

The project, titled '2013', now rests in the hands of 'Grey's Anatomy' producer Mark Gordon. Emmerich says Gordon is trying to lower the show's price tag in order to get it on the air. But the director seems convinced that the project is dead in the water.

"I don't think it will happen," he admitted. "I had a certain vision. We realized what kind of compromises we were going to have to make. Because of that, I said, "No thank you.'"

So what are we missing out on here, really? More CGI tidal waves and scenes of people outrunning earthquakes and tornadoes? Not really my cup of tea.

Take away the visual spectacle, and Emmerich's recent schlockbusters ('10,000 BC', 'The Day After Tomorrow') offer little more than inept writing, cheesy plots, and characters nobody cares about. If he can't at least bring high-priced, cutting-edge visual effects to the small screen with '2013', then maybe it's best for the project to die a quick and quiet death.

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Sourabh

When I watched the movie I thought they could make a show of like one season about how they survived on the arks. Last human survivors. Battlestar Galactica-ish.

February 26 2010 at 12:37 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Zachary Pruckowski

I would actually be potentially interested in such a show - the whole "cleaning up after the end of the world" part that is, not Roland Emmerich blowing more stuff up. I mean, I thought those aspects in Jericho and BSG were very interesting, and there's loads of potential for drama there. I don't see why you couldn't do that on a TV show budget, or even a cable budget.

I haven't seen 2012, so I'm speaking generally here, but you're talking about an isolated band of survivors. That means fewer sets, and cheaper costumes. Lost is expensive because it has like 15 main cast members, is filmed in Hawaii, and has all the flash-back/forward/sideways locations. Film it somewhere less expensive than Hawaii (plenty of cheap, empty land in First World countries if you look hard enough), limit your number of flashback sets, and have a smaller cast.

February 25 2010 at 12:45 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Tobias

Don't they give out oscars for obnoxious blockbusters now?

February 24 2010 at 2:43 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Brian

I was actually watching 2012 just the other day, and while it was completely outlandish and ridiculous, I got to the end and I thought to myself:

"They're ending it right when it would have really gotten interesting. I don't care to know how the people got away from the earthquakes, but seeing a totally changed planet has some really interesting possibilities."

Now Emerich is totally the wrong person to write and direct that story, but if they found the right person, it could be something to watch for.

Although, I don't think Mark Gordon is the right person to find that director/writer.

February 24 2010 at 11:35 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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