(Written for BritScene)
Writer and director Joe Cornish (The Adventures of Tintin) has confirmed this week that several options for his British science-fiction/action film, Attack The Block, are now on the table, including a sequel, a television series and an American remake.
Attack The Block was released in the UK in May 2011 and was Cornish’s directorial debut. The film stars Nick Frost (The Adventures of Tintin), Jodie Whittaker (One Day), Luke Treadaway (Killing Bono), and many new faces including John Boyega, Alex Esmail, Leeon Jones, Paige Meade, and Simon Howard. The film centered on a street gang living on council estate in South London who were faced with having to defend themselves from an alien invasion.
Upon its release it received almost unanimous appraisal, often being described as a ‘breath of fresh air’ from the overexposed alien attack genre. The film also won the Midnight Feature Award at SXSW and the audience award for Best Narrative at the Los Angeles Film Festival, leading many to question whether or not and how the franchise would continue.
At this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, Cornish mentioned that producer Edgar Wright (who is also working with Cornish on The Adventures of Tintin) had proposed a sequel idea, but no more details were given. Then, in an interview with IFC News at the New York Comic Con, he described one idea involving group leader Moses, played by John Boyega, riding a police horse across the River Thames.
“[He] keeps coming up with amazing ideas,” says Cornish about Boyega. “He has this image of a bigger alien attack on London, as if the attack we saw in ‘Attack the Block’ was just the [first] wave and there’s another wave of bigger creatures. And he described to me this image of Moses leading a whole army of hood kids across the Thames, next to the houses of Parliament.”
“He had an image of Moses on a police horse. You know the police in London who have those horses they use in riots…somehow Moses has got onto one of those horses. So he’s on a horse leading this army of South London kids across the river to take on this bigger wave of aliens. So yeah it’s really fun to think of stuff like that and what we could do,” he continued.
Cornish also discussed other possible adaptations that are in their very early stages, including an American remake and a television spin-off.
He says: “We’ve had approaches for a TV show to spin-off it. But it’s very early days, you know. So it’s not out of the question but very early days, and I’d certainly like to do something different for my next thing if I get a chance to do a next thing.”
Attack the Block arrives on DVD and Blu-ray on 26th October, and you can read BritScene’s review of it here.
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