Universal Pictures is developing the dystopian action-thriller “Little America” with Michael Bay, Andrew Form, and Brad Fuller on board to produce through their Platinum Dunes production company, Variety said.

Universal won a bidding war for a spec script by Rowan Athale (“Wasteland”), who will also direct. Platinum Dunes has teamed with Universal for “The Purge” and “Ouija” franchises.

“Little America” is described as being reminiscent of John Carpenter’s iconic 1981 sci-fi action-thriller “Escape From New York,” starring Kurt Russell. “Little America” is set in a time where America is so bankrupt that China is calling all the shots.

VP of Production Sara Scott and creative executive Mika Pryce will oversee the project for Universal.

Bay is best known as the director of all four “Transformers” movies for Paramount. The fifth, “Transformers: The Last Knight,” opens on June 23. He also directed and produced last year’s “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi.”

Athale’s heist thriller “Wasteland,” which world premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, centered on an ex-con who seeks revenge on the drug kingpin responsible for his incarceration. Luke Treadaway, Timothy Spall, Iwan Rheon, Matthew Lewis, Gerard Kearns, and Vanessa Kirby starred in the movie.