Timur Bekmembetov, Weinsteins launching 'Apollo 18'

Add Wanted director Timur Bekmambetov as the latest filmmaker to work in the "found footage" genre.

The Weinstein Co. has announced it's working on Apollo 18, a sci-fi thriller it hopes to turn around so fast the company has slated a March 2011 release date.

 From the press release:

The Weinstein Company has acquired "Apollo 18," the sci-fi thriller based on the screenplay by Brian Miller, winner of the inaugural Astana International Action Film Festival screenplay competition, founded by "Wanted" director Timur Bekmambetov.  Trevor Cawood is set to direct the project.

Bekmambetov and Michele Wolkoff, President of Development for Bekmambetov Projects Ltd. (BPL), will produce the film.

Set to be shot documentary style, the film unearths lost footage from Apollo 18’s undocumented and covert mission to the moon, revealing disturbing new evidence of other life forms.

Bekmambetov announced the contest this spring, in conjunction with Kazakhstan’s first film festival held in Astana, Kazakhstan July 27-July 1, 2010.  Five finalists from the United States, France, Kazakhstan, and the UK attended the film festival, which was a celebration of international action films.  As part of the competition, Miller was awarded a cash prize and a development deal with BPL.

The film is slated to begin production this December for a March release date.

Bekmambetov’s "found footage" movie deal comes a week after Heat Vision revealed that disaster-movie maestro Roland Emmerich is working on his own secret "found footage" movie.