Ron Howard to produce movie adaptation of Neal Stephenson's epic sci-fi novel 'Seveneves'

Ron Howard is heading back to space with a big-screen adaptation of Seveneves by author Neal Stephenson.

Howard has been up in orbit before, when he made the critically-acclaimed movie Apollo 13.

Published in 2015, Seveneves is an almost 900-page novel by the renowned science fiction author Neal Stephenson and follows a millennia-long struggle to preserve the human race after a cataclysmic disaster destroys our planet.

In the story, after the moon explodes without explanation and the lunar fragments (dubbed the "hard rain") threaten to totally wipe out Earth, people from every country in the world team up to preserve humankind by sending their best specimens out into orbit to a much-extended version of the International Space Station.

Five thousand years down the line, seven bloodlines of genetically altered humans (children of the last remaining women, the Seven Eves, hence the title) have now grown into billions of people, living out in space. They decide it's time to return to their ancestral home, Earth, where they get quite a few surprises.

The project will reunite Howard with Apollo 13 screenwriter Bill Broyles and Howard will also produce the film alongside Imagine Entertainment partner Brian Grazer and Skydance’s David Ellison and Dana Goldberg.

Howard, who has recently directed In the Heart of the Sea and is involved in the upcoming Inferno, called the Seveneves project “a tremendous opportunity.” 

many thanks. a tremendous opportunity https://t.co/rwU2Dl8CWK

— Ron Howard (@RealRonHoward) June 9, 2016

As someone who recently read the novel, the writer is in no uncertain terms excited about the project!

Source: Entertainment Weekly