“The Upside” director Neil Burger is set to direct sci-fi thriller “Voyagers” as his next project. The film will be fully financed and co-produced by Stuart Ford’s AGC Studios, and produced by Burger’s Nota Bene Productions and Basil Iwanyk’s Thunder Road Films. AGC also handles international sales on the new film.
Written and directed by Burger, “Voyagers” tells the story of 30 children sent into space on a multi-generational mission to reach and populate a newly discovered planet. After the adult captain is mysteriously killed, the young crew descends into chaos, reverting to a primitive, tribal state, giving in to their most feral and animal desires.
Burger will produce alongside Iwanyk and Brendon Boyea for Thunder Road. Ford and Greg Shapiro, AGC’s president of film, will serve as executive producers.
The film marks Burger’s first screenwriting credit since 2008’s “The Lucky Ones.” His past directing credits also include his 2006 breakout film “The Illusionist,” which he also wrote; 2011’s “Limitless”; and the first film in Summit Entertainment’s “Divergent” YA franchise.
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Burger is coming off “The Upside,” an English-language remake of the record-breaking 2011 French hit “Intouchables,” which scored a box office surprise last weekend when it knocked “Aquaman” off the top of the domestic chart. The film, which stars Kevin Hart, Bryan Cranston and Nicole Kidman, scored a $20.4 million opening to give distributor STX Entertainment its first domestic No. 1.
“Voyagers” is expected to begin production this spring.
