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Amazon is dramatically ramping up its production for next year, moving forward with three new high-concept series, Variety has learned. These new efforts represent a significant production investment from the studio, which is currently in preproduction, production or post on 67 TV series and 20 movies around the world.
The streaming service is developing the following:
• “Lazarus,” based on a comic book by Greg Rucka (“Marvel’s Jessica Jones”), is set in an alternative near future, where the world has been divided among 16 rival families, who run their territories in a feudal system. Each family has allies and enemies among the other families. To crush uprisings and fight wars, most families have a Lazarus: a one-person kill squad.
Rucka serves as writer and executive producer on “Lazarus,” along with Michael Lark (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier”) and Angela Cheng Caplan.
• “Snow Crash,” which is based on Neal Stephenson’s cult novel, is a one-hour science fiction drama set in futuristic America. In reality, Hiro Protagonist delivers pizza for Uncle Enzo’s CosoNostra Pizza Inc., but in the Metaverse he’s a warrior prince. Plunging headlong into the enigma of a new computer virus that’s striking down hackers everywhere, he races along the neon-lit streets on a search-and-destroy mission for the shadowy virtual villain.
A co-production with Paramount Television, “Snow Crash” is executive produced by Joe Cornish (“Ant-Man”) and Frank Marshall (“Back to the Future”).
• “Ringworld,” a co-production with MGM, is based on Larry Niven’s sci-fi book series from the 70’s. It tells the story of Louis Gridley Wu, a bored man celebrating his 200th birthday in a technologically-advanced, future Earth. Upon being offered one of the open positions on a voyage, Louis joins a young woman and two aliens to explore Ringworld, the remote artificial ring beyond “Known Space.”
Not bad, but maybe we're all better off going outside to play.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Phoenix666 on Monday October 02 2017, @12:40AM (3 children)
That's funny, I thought the Baroque Cycle, which did have its moments, was too clever for its own good. Snow Crash, The Diamond Age, Cryptonomicon, and even Zodiac I enjoyed.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 02 2017, @10:21AM
The Baroque Cycle would be perfect if they were willing to commit to it for a few seasons, and to the budget. There is a lot of stuff going down in it, and the majority of it would make fantastic television.
Cryptonomicon was too much about that thing they were on about. And the other people who were in the way. I hate to say this but I can't even remember many of the details because it was all pretty flimsy, like there were a list of things he wanted in the book and didn't spend a lot of time on writing a story. Even the techno fun of various sorts he failed to make half as interesting as when someone does it in real life.
Snow Crash was not very compelling for me. I was a bit annoyed by the titular plot point. Ok, a lot annoyed. My non-programmer friends were all over it though. The nuke was pretty cool. That's all I liked.
Didn't read the others.
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Monday October 02 2017, @01:12PM (1 child)
I always thought that Neal needed to get a co-writer to do the endings with him. His books are great for almost all of the way through, then it's "ok how can I wrap all this up in 20 pages".
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday October 02 2017, @01:43PM
Maybe, but a cowboy fighting his way with a rifle through the heart of Shanghai to the water front makes for a pretty good ending in my book.
Washington DC delenda est.