Roland Emmerich to Direct 2012 Apocalypse Movie

Update: Emmerich and Kloser’s script was purchased by Sony Pictures, it was announced Thursday. The budget for 2012 is said to be near $200 million.

Starring: John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Danny Glover, Thandie Newton, Oliver Platt.

U.S. Release Date: July 10, 2009 (Wide)

Back in February, blockbuster director Roland Emmerich revealed that his next big movie would be one titled 2012, a disaster movie that takes place in the year of the title. Emmerich's next finished movie is actually 10,000 B.C., which hits theaters this coming Friday. Our friend Steve from Collider caught up with Emmerich last weekend while he was promoting 10,000 B.C. and tried to get him to reveal what exactly happens in 2012, but still had no luck - he's keeping a very tight lip. But if you're interested in trying to guess what it might be or just want to know exactly what Emmerich said, read on. And considering this is the next big $200 million epic summer blockbuster, we're sure you'll want to know.

The script for 2012 is apparently so good, that the studios started a bidding war for distribution, with Sony ending up the winner. Now it's heading into production for a July 10th, 2009 opening. Emmerich has said previously that "it will be very expensive, you see the whole world go to shit" and other sources reported that the "project has more going for it than the big idea that studios love," but what exactly that means yet, no one knows. All that we do know is that 2012 is the year that the Mayan calendar (pictured to the right) ends and many others have predicted that it will be the apocalyptic end of the Earth. What Emmerich is depicting, however, is a "natural disaster" of some sorts.

Before we get into the juicy details, Emmerich explains his inspiration for the movie, and how he convinced himself, after saying he'd never do another disaster movie, to do 2012.

"…This whole movie I'm doing next was inspired by just the phenomenon of the internet when you type in Google, '2012', you get 240 million hits. That's a lot. And it's just, so many people write about it, believe it, that our world comes to an end in 2012. I said wow. I kind of said before I will never do a disaster movie again. I said, for this idea I have to do it again."

When Collider asked Emmerich whether this would achieve a new level of "blowing things up", Emmerich responded with "it's not blowing up, it's something else." And when prodded further to explain himself, Emmerich almost gave it away: "This time there's no blowing up. It's a natural disaster. Well, actually yeah, like a… I'm not saying it! I'm giving things away." Damn, too close! If only he just finished his sentence…

To be honest, Emmerich has done such a great job of teasing 2012, that I'm getting into it almost as much as Cloverfield, where it's become all about figuring out "what it is" more than anything else. Unfortunately we'll have to wait until we see the first teaser trailer or hear reports from the set to get to that point. Emmerich goes on talking to Collider about how "undoable" this is, especially considering they're going to, basically, destroy the entire world. Check out what he had to say!

"Yes, it will be very expensive, but I think it will be for a price because people who read the script said this is undoable. And I said, well but we'll do it. I mean, it's one of these things that everybody says it's undoable because it's like, you see the whole world go to shit… It's kind of one of these things when I write a script, and I wrote it again with Harald [Kloser] together, we just said no, we'll not think if it's doable or not, we'll just write it. We'll just come up with it. And then we'll figure out how we'll do it. I think it's worth doing it because it's also when you have something where you have adrenaline because you are nervous about it, that's good. That's a little bit like… it's good when actors have this adrenaline when they go on stage. I think they do their best work, and for us it's the same thing…"

I love the way he thinks - don't write it with "is it doable?" in mind, just write it, and then figure out how to do it. And even be nervous about it, challenge yourself - that's awesome. As much as we all know that Emmerich is a filmmaker who writes/directs films that are nothing but storyless blockbusters, at least they're entertaining. And although I'm not that excited for 10,000 B.C., I'm already very excited for 2012. I'm really wondering what the hell is going to happen, and how the entire world is going to get destroyed! This should be fun!

Any guesses as to what kind(s) of natural disaster(s) will be destroying the Earth in 2012?