John Krasinski’s ‘A Quiet Place’ Follow-Up Will Be Sci-Fi Project

John Krasinski made a major gamble with his first foray into the world of horror, opting to re-write, direct, and star in A Quiet Place. That gamble paid off, as the film not only earned critical acclaim, sitting at 96 percent positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, but also won the weekend box office with more than $50 million. The filmmaker’s next project will see him reunite with A Quiet Place producers Andrew Form and Brad Fuller for the sci-fi film Life on Mars.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, “The project will adapt a short story by Cecil Castellucci titled We Have Always Lived on Mars that centers on a woman who is among a handful of descendants of a Martian colony long-abandoned by Earth following a cataclysm. The woman one day finds she can breathe the air on Mars, upending her world and that of her fellow colonists.”

Krasinski reportedly found the story and approached the Platinum Dunes producing team to bring the picture to life.

This project confirms Form and Fuller’s previous comments that, moving forward, their company was focusing on original features as opposed to developing remakes, having previously delivered audiences Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Amityville Horror reboots.

“For us, as a company, we’re always looking for original material. And the idea of finding something original was important for us,” Form noted of their recent release to CinePOP. “We made a film where there’s two to three minutes of talking in the movie, where sound is a full character, and it feels like audiences are really responding to those ingredients.”

“We’ve rebooted enough,” Fuller added. “We’ve done all of our [rebooted] horror movies. We’re not going to be doing that anymore.”

There’s no timeline in place for when Life on Mars will move forward, as Platinum Dunes and Krasinski are likely curious about potentially moving forward with a sequel to A Quiet Place.

The original script came from Scott Beck and Bryan Woods before Krasinski gave the film a re-write, with both initial writers claiming there are more stories to tell in this world.

“It’s such a fun world,” Woods shared with Fandango. “There are so many things you could do.”

A Quiet Place is in theaters now.

Has Krasinski made you a fan of his directing abilities in the world of genre film? Let us know in the comments below or hit up @TheWolfman on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!

[H/T The Hollywood Reporter]