Director News : Burton, Spielberg, Huddleston, Hafstrom, DeMonaco, Cameron, Bell, Bekmambetov

Timur Bekmambetov (“Wanted”) will direct the feature film adaptation of Stephen Tunney’s young adult sci-fi novel. Edward Ricourt (“Now You See Me”) has scripted the film, set two thousand years in the future, where the Moon has become a run-down experiment in terraforming and colonization with a dusty patina and a bright red sky. “To sixteen-year-old Hieronymus Rexaphin, it is the only world he has ever known until he meets a girl from Earth called Windows Falling on Sparrows, who is inexplicably drawn to him because of his special–some say dangerous–condition. Hieronymus is a One Hundred Percent Lunar Boy who can see the fourth primary color, which gives him the ability to see the future path of time and matter. To look into his eyes will cause madness or even death, authorities say, so he is forced to wear goggles at all times. The color of his eyes is against Lunar law, and some say against nature. After breaking the Moon s most serious law and exposing his eyes to the curious young Earth girl, Hieronymus embarks on a tremendous misadventure to protect his friends and save his family, and to escape exile and imprisonment on the far side of the moon.” (Chicago Tribune)

The director and writer of “Devil Inside” (the critically-savaged flick is the No.1 pic at the U.S Box Office) are sticking with what works; they’ll ”bring a similar filmmaking style to another classic horror mythology”, says Deadline, adding “The plot is being kept under wraps but the project will begin production in Romania in April. Steven Schneider (Paranormal Activity, Insidious), Peterman (The Devil Inside) and Morris Paulson (The Devil Inside) are producing. Bell, Peterman and Paulson will oversee the movie through their production company Pototype.” Peterman wrote the script of which Bell directs.

James Cameron’s “Avatar” sequel won’t be ready until 2016, two years later than originally expected. Producer Jon Landau, speaking at a screening of “Titanic 3D”, said “We are excitedly working on it as we speak and it will be four or so years before it will be out.” (Entertainmentwise)

Yesterday we reported that Arnold Schwarzenegger may be joining Sly Stallone for the Prison Break-esque thriller, now comes word that “1408” helmer Mikael Hafstrom may be the film’s director. Hafstrom has been circling the project for months, but with Sly busy doing “Expendables 2” in Bulgaria there hasn’t been any chance for the two to sit down and nut out a deal; that’ll now happen now that Stallone is back in the country. (Deadline)

Steven Spielberg won’t be returning to the director’s chair for “Jurassic Park 4”. The filmmaker, out stumping “War Horse” in Paris, otherwise remain tight-lipped on the sequel, “I don’t want to talk about Jurassic Park 4 yet – it’s too early – but I can tell you that I’m not directing it. I’m producing it though.” (Collider)

James DeMonaco will direct the sci-fi indy, based on his own script, starring Ethan Hawke. This the first movie to be made under Blumhouse’s first-look deal with the Universal, signed last summer. The shingle, run by Jason Blum, made its name in the horror field with the low-budget Paranormal Activity series as well as Insidious, one of the most profitable movies of 2011. (The Hollywood Reporter)

‘Tim’ tells us that “Sir Ben Kingsley, Julian Sands, Jena Malone and Michele Martin are starring in Charles Huddleston’s feature adaption of the play”. The play told of a woman married to an overbearing husband; it’s set during the current economic crisis. Huddleston is writing, producing and directing the project.

Finally, Tim Burton suggests he’ll probably end up directing the recently-announced sequel to his 1988 hit. Speaking to MTV, the “Dark Shadows” helmer said “I love that character, and Michael [Keaton] is so great in it. I always think about how great and fun that character was, so I just said to [“Vampire Hunter” writer] Seth [Grahame-Smith], “If you have some idea about it, go for it, and then I’ll look at it freshly.” In the past, I tried some things, but that was way back when. He seemed really excited about it.”