Even before they hit it big with Avengers: Endgame, directors Joe and Anthony Russo were putting the pieces into place for their own production company, AGBO. One of the earliest projects announced was an adaptation of Simon Stålenhag's graphic novel The Electric State. It has been through some usual development wrinkles, but has now scored Millie Bobbie Brown to star and Universal to back the movie.
With regular Russo collaborators (and AGBO heads of story) Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely on adaptation duty, the story is set in an alternative future, where it follows a teenage girl (Millie Bobby Brown) who realizes that a strange but sweet robot who comes to her has actually been sent by her missing brother. She and the robot set out to find the brother in an imaginative world of humans mixing with all manner of robots, uncovering a grand conspiracy in the process.
"We’re thrilled to have this deal with Universal who has committed to a theatrical release of Electric State," said the Russos. "This is incredible news for us as filmmakers, and for audiences around the world who want an opportunity to experience films in theaters again. This is also a positive sign that, as vaccines become available, the theatrical market is returning."
When the Russos originally scored the rights, the plan was for It's Andy Muschietti to direct, and his sister Barbara Muschietti to produce. They've since moved on to the new Flash film, which led the Russos to decide to step in and make the film themselves. We'll be waiting a while for it, though, as they have to both factor in Brown's Stranger Things commitments and their own job directing spy thriller The Gray Man, which has just seen its schedule pushed back as Coronavirus cases flare in California.