December 16, 2016 - 17:49 AMT
“Dark Matter” bestselling sci-fi thriller to get film treatment

Roland Emmerich is in early negotiations with Sony Pictures to direct the science-fiction thriller “Dark Matter”, based on the Blake Crouch bestseller, Variety said.

Matt Tolmach is producing the movie version of “Dark Matter,” which was published in July by Crown Publishing Group. The story centers on a college physics professor in Chicago with a warm family life. The teacher is knocked out by a masked abductor and wakes up in a world he doesn’t know in which his wife is not his wife, his son was never born, and he’s a celebrated genius who has achieved something remarkable and impossible — his theory has become a fully-realized technology for inter-dimensional transfer.

Sony bought the movie rights to “Dark Matter” in 2014. Andrea Giannetti is overseeing the project for the studio.

Emmerich last directed and produced “Independence Day: Resurgence,” two decades after he directed the original “Independence Day.” His recent credits include 2015’s “Stonewall” and 2013’s “White House Down.” He’s also helmed several big-budget sci-fi projects, including “2012,” “The Day After Tomorrow,” and “Stargate.”

Crouch is the author of the “Wayward Pines” trilogy, which was adapted last year into a Fox TV series of the same name.