Bryan Singer to direct Battlestar Galactica film!

source: hollywoodinsider.ew.com

Universal Pictures have confirmed that Bryan Singer will direct and produce a big-screen adaptation of the 1970’s television show Battlestar Galactica.

Singer previously directed X-Men, The Usual Suspects and Valkyrie. The show’s original creator Glen Larson will also act as producer on the project.

The 1978 show was rebooted in 2004 by Ronald D. Moore and David Eick. It re-imagined various elements of the series and concluded in 2009 after four critically acclaimed seasons.

The series followed the last remaining humans in the universe who must band together for survival after their world is destroyed by a robot-race known as the Cylons.

Singer’s project will not follow-on from Moore and Eick’s translation and will instead be a complete reimagining of Larson’s original series.

Singer and co-producer Tom DeSanto originally planned to bring Battlestar back to TV screens in 2001. However, after the events of 9/11, the Sci-Fi channel were unwilling to pump $14 million into a pilot that featured a major terrorist attack.

It’s not completely unusual for two different takes on the same mythology to occupy pop-cultural space at the same time. For instance, Superman Returns hit cinemas while Smallville was still on the air. Interestingly, Superman Returns was also directed by Bryan Singer.

However, it’s going to be an uphill battle for Singer. Anyone interested in seeing a Battlestar Galactica movie is probably already in love with the 2004-reboot (myself included), and I can’t imagine a 2-hour film being compared favourably.

Fans of Moore and Eick’s universe, fear not. A spinoff series entitled Caprica is set to debut in 2010, taking place fifty years before the events of Battlestar Galactica. A final television movie called The Plan will also air in the coming months.

Discuss: Is Singer the right man for the job? Should this even be happening?