Sam Raimi new Alien Invasion project, "EDF"

SAM RAIMI GETS IN ON THE ALIEN INVASION CRAZE WITH ‘EDF’

Sam Raimi is not one to sit idly by when all the cool kids are doing it, so the “Spider-Man” director is actively developing his very own big-budget sci-fi alien invasion movie called “EDF”, or “Earth Defense Force”. In EDF, we open on a U.S. military operation gone awry: Sent to rescue what they believe is a sub that’s accidentally bumped into a mine in Chinese waters, U.S. naval aviators quickly wind up engaged in a dogfight with a squadron of Chinese air force pilots. Soon, planes on both sides are being shot out of the sky, but not by the Chinese or U.S. pilots — by three alien attack fighters, which soon depart and destroy many of the world’s landmarks and military installations, then vanish.

It’s a test of Earth’s defensive capabilities, and we failed. Shortly after, NASA detects a radiation signature in a nearby galaxy, indicating a far more massive attack coming in about ten months, and world leaders set about trying to create super-aircraft and weapons that can fight off the coming invasion.Raimi is developing “EDF” with “District 9″ producer Bill Block, and is currently in negotiations with Warner Bros. to make the movie.

Also: SAM RAIMI TO DIRECT ‘WIZARD OF OZ’ PREQUEL

Sam Raimi news……he’s officially been given the reins to direct the prequel to 'The Wizard of Oz' (which up until now was a project that was still very much up in the air as Raimi continued to work on his World of Warcraft adaptation). You'll remember that this is the film called 'Oz: The Great and Powerful', and it tells the origins story of how the Wizard of Oz became, well, the Wizard of Oz. It'll track him from his days as a circus wrangler through to when a tornado brought him to the magical land of Oz. David Lindsay-Abaire, who wrote the play 'Rabbit Hole', is currently re-writing the script.

One of the big reasons Raimi wanted to do 'Oz 'is so that he could work with Robert Downey Jr., who's still in negotiations to take on the role of the Wizard (fingers crossed those negotiations end with Downey Jr. in the part). Raimi is better known nowadays for his work on the 'Spider-Man' movies, however the Raimi that sticks in my mind is the one responsible for the 'Evil Dead' franchise and the gory, gruesome images that resulted (he later turned the franchise into a parody of itself with 'Army of Darkness').

From: Rich Goellnitz' Sci Fi newsletter on Facebook