UPDATE: The bidding war on Last Human is over, with Sony Pictures shelling out a considerable sum – Deadline reports that they might have offered up to $15 million – to bag Lord & Miller’s latest. Not only that, but the duo are officially on board to direct the film, as well as producing it. Read the original report below.
They've had big success with Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse and The Lego Movie 2 (which they wrote and produced) just launched top of the US box office, but Phil Lord and Chris Miller are already looking to set up a new movie to add to their burgeoning To Do List. The duo is developing children's book adaptation The Last Human.
Shazam! screenwriter Henry Gayden is on to adapt Lee Bacon's book, which hasn't been published yet. It's set after a robot apocalypse, when humans have been extinct for 30 years. The story follows a 12-year-old robot, XR_935, who is happy to live in a world without crime, pollution or war. One day, XR discovers a human, Emma, who is also 12 years old, but has spent her entire life inside an underground bunker, hidden away from machines. Emma and XR form an unlikely friendship, and, with two other robotic companions, embark on a dangerous voyage in search of a mysterious point on a map, a journey that will require them to break all of the rules while also challenging ideas of prejudice. Sounds like something Lord and Miller could turn into something special.
Given Lord and Miller's presence on the project – they'd likely direct – studios are now in a bidding war to snap it up, with Spider-team Sony and Lego producers Warner Bros. in the lead, but the deals are still being figured out. As for the pair's actual next project, they're still attached to adapt Martian author Andy Weir's newest book, Artemis.
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