Stuart Ford’s AGC Studios has greenlit YA sci-fi thriller Voyagers, the next project from The Upside director Neil Burger.
AGC will fully finance and co-produce the project, which Burger wrote. Basil Iwanyk’s Thunder Road Films (A Star is Born) will produce together with Burger’s Nota Bene Productions banner.
The plot of Voyagers reads like an updated version of Lord of the Flies: 30 children are sent into space on a multi-generational mission to reach and populate a newly discovered planet. But after the adult captain of the mission is mysteriously killed, the young crew descends into chaos, reverting to a primitive, tribal state of being, and giving in to their most feral and animal desires.
Thunder Road’s Brendon Boyea will produce alongside Iwanyk and Burger, with Ford and AGC’s head of film Greg Shapiro executive producing. Voyagers is currently casting its lead roles and is set to begin production this spring.
Burger is coming off the success of The Upside, the English-language remake of French hit The Intouchables. The comedy, starring Kevin Hart, Bryan Cranston and Nicole Kidman, entered the North America charts at number one, pulling in $19.6 million on its opening weekend.
Burger’s directorial credits include sci-fi actioner Divergent, starring Shailene Woodley, and the sci-fi thriller Limitless with Bradley Cooper.
AGC will introduce Voyagers to international buyers at the European Film Market in Berlin next month.