Denis Villeneuve’s next film after Dune will be another sci-fi film as Deadline is reporting that Alcon Entertainment has acquired the film rights to Arthur C. Clarke’s Rendezvous With Rama. Alcon Entertainment had previously produced two other Denis Vliieneuve directed films; Prisoners starring Jake Gyllenhaal as the wreckloose, loner Detective Loki and Hugh Jackman as Keller Dover, the distraught father of one of the girls who gets kidnapped, and Bladerunner 2049 starring Ryan Gosling as the new blade runner, K, and Harrison Ford as Rick Deckard, the original blade runner.
The film rights to Rendezvous With Rama were originally held by Morgan Freeman and his partner Lori McCreery’s Revelations Entertainment. Revelations Entertainment will still be a part of the production, producing the film alongside Alcon Entertainment, who will be financing the film.
Space & Beyond
Rendezvous With Rama was first published back in 1973. The narrative revolves around a 31 by 12-mile cylindrical alien starship which enters the Solar System in the 2130s. The drama comes in when a group of human explorers find the mysterious ship and try to figure out why it’s there and what it wants. Highly regarded as one of Arthur C. Clarke’s best novels. This plot sounds an awful lot like Arrival.
If you are well versed with Denis Villeneuve’s filmography, Rendezvous With Rama sounds right up his alley. Although he did start with more grounded dramas with his earlier films like Polytechnique (2009), Incendies (2010), Prisoners (2013), and Sicario (2015); he also mixed in some otherworldly films like the extremely odd, but extremely enjoyable Enemy (2013), Arrival (2015), Bladerunner 2049 (2017) and most recently Dune.
Jake Gyllenhaal as Detective Loki and Hugh Jackman as Keller Dover in Prisoners.
Denis Villeneuve is arguably one of the best directors of our time just from his earlier work alone. Rendezvous With Rama seems to be him possibly finding his comfort zone with sci-fi IPs, but I am hoping he can swerve back into the drama lane at some point, Incendies and Prisoners are some of the best films I have ever seen.
And if you’re looking for a great read, the novella titled Story of Your Life was the basis for Arrival. It was written by Ted Chiang in 1995 and is different than the movie that came after it. I won’t go as far as to say that it’s better than Arrival, even though I want to. No. It’s just different. It just hits different.
Have you read Rendezvous With Rama? Are you excited to see what Denis Villeneuve’s next film has in store for us? Let us know down below.
