Dammit! 24 movie may have been cancelled!

The “24” movie may be dead, due to a riff between 20th Century Fox and producers Imagine Entertainment.

The Kiefer Sutherland-starring movie had been granted a $30 million dollar budget by Fox, but Imagine pictured something a little steeper and grander – in the region of $50m.

The Hollywood Reporter adds :

Fox had proposed paying Sutherland and director Antoine Fuqua $2 million each in exchange for a generous backend. Sutherland’s camp wanted in the $3 million range.

It’s always possible there could be a compromise, with both sides stressing that the numbers weren’t set in stone. At the same, the growing consensus is that the project is close to being shelved and that any compromise needed to have happened by now.

There are only seven weeks to prep for the film before Sutherland goes on hiatus from his new TV series Touch. If Fuqua doesn’t shoot during Sutherland’s break, it’s likely the actor wouldn’t be available until summer 2013.

Fox is leery about letting too much time lapse between the end of 24 and the release of the film in theaters, based on its experience with The X-Files.

The first X-Files movie debuted in theaters in 1998, while the hit television show was still on the air. X-Files grossed a handy $189.2 million worldwide. The second film, The X-Files: I Want to Believe, was released in 2008, six years after the show’s final episode.

Dammit!