Paramount Cancels Upcoming Area 51 Sci-Fi Movie

Earlier this year, the Skydance/Paramount merger became official, ushering in a new era for one of Hollywood’s premier studios. With new leadership taking over, it isn’t surprising that the regime is looking to leave its stamp on Paramount’s upcoming film slate. Not only does this mean prioritizing valued franchises like Star Trek, it also calls for a review of the projects their predecessors green lit and potentially making some difficult decisions. Paramount Pictures co-chairs Josh Greenstein and Dana Goldberg have been going through the slate, and sci-fi fans might be disappointed to hear that an intriguing movie is one of many that’s no longer moving forward at the studio.

A report in The Hollywood Reporter detailing the latest happenings at Paramount reveals that an Area 51 movie (which had director Colin Trevorrow and producer Ryan Reynolds attached) has been cancelled. Other projects that met the same fate include the Ferris Bueller’s Day Off spinoff Victor and Sam’s Day Off; Eloise, an adaptation of a series of popular children’s books (which, coincidentally, also had Reynolds attached as producer and star); and Winter Games, described as “a romantic sports drama starring Miles Teller.” Eloise has since been sold to Netflix.

Will Colin Trevorrow’s Area 51 Movie Find a New Home?

Trevorrow’s project was only announced earlier this year. At the time the news broke, the only plot details revealed were that the film would be a 1980s period piece about the Las Vegas-based news reporter “who first broke the story of Area 51” (via Deadline). It doesn’t sound like the film was far along in development, but it’s still disappointing to see something like this cancelled. While Trevorrow has a mixed track record as a director, his Area 51 movie still had potential to be an intriguing, non-IP (potentially mid-budget) offering, which is arguably the kind of film the industry needs more of. Not only could it tell a fun sci-fi story, there wouldn’t be as much pressure on it to perform at the box office. Perhaps it could have been a breakout hit.

Scrapping projects like the Area 51 movie and Victor & Sam’s Day Off is part of Paramount’s shifting strategy to prioritize films that have significant box office potential, which is why new installments in series like Star Trek and Sonic the Hedgehog are moving forward. An industry source told The Hollywood Reporter that “it’s all about commerciality” at Paramount. What’s unknown is if any of these cancelled films will eventually find new life elsewhere. Conceivably, Trevorrow’s film could be shopped around to different suitors if there are other studios interested.

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When thinking of potential spots where the Area 51 movie could land, Universal might be a realistic candidate. Trevorrow helmed multiple installments of the successful Jurassic World series for Universal, meaning the studio would probably be interested in continuing that relationship. At one point, Warner Bros. might have been another option, but it remains to be seen how things shake out following Netflix’s acquisition of the studio. There will surely be a lot of moving pieces during that transition, and perhaps a situation similar to Paramount where leadership has specific strategies in mind for films.

The involvement of Reynolds gives the Area 51 movie some additional clout as long as Paramount doesn’t just kill it. His Maximum Effort production company has only been around for seven years, but it’s collaborated with a variety of distributors, including Disney (owners of 20th Century Studios), Apple, Netflix, and Amazon. If Area 51 is deemed too risky of a box office bet in today’s climate, then maybe a streamer will take a chance on it. There have been successful genre films that have gone straight to streaming in the past (The Gorge was a big hit for Apple earlier this year), so there’s precedent for something like this.

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