'Zombieland' Writers Sell Sci-Fi Project 'Epsilon' to Sony (Exclusive)

Sony Pictures is in negotiations to pick up Epsilon, a sci-fi spec script by Zombieland writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick that has Michael DeLuca attached to produce. Reese and Wernick also will produce.

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The project hit Hollywood studios Monday and drew strong interest from Warner Bros. and DreamWorks. Sources say the Sony deal closed in the $1 million range.

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Epsilon is set after an initial robot rebellion ended in failure and Earth operates on almost no electronics. The remaining robots seek refuge on a space station and begin to raise their own human lab rats, which they train to act as their agents. The main character is a man who discovers he is more human than he thought.

One source who read the script described the project as "ambitious."

Sony-based DeLuca has managed to straddle the line between prestigious, award-winning movies (The Social Network, Moneyball) and popcorn flicks (Drive Angry). He recently wrapped Captain Phillips, Sony’s movie about Somali pirates starring Tom Hanks and directed by Paul Greengrass, who helmed the second and third Bourne films.

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Reese and Wernick struck writer gold with the 2009 hit Zombieland, released by Sony. Since then, they have worked on G.I. Joe: Retaliation at Paramount and Deadpool at Fox and wrote an adaptation of the comic Cowboy Ninja Viking, among other pursuits. They are repped by WME and Hansen Jacobson.

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