Neill Blomkamp moves ahead with ‘The Gone World’ – leaving Alien 5 behind

Thanks to the clashing interests of Neill Blomkamp’s Alien 5 and Ridley Scott’s Alien: Paradise Lost, the former was bumped off 20th Century Fox’s release schedule entirely, leaving the South African District 9 director without a project. Now, it seems, that he’s wasted no time in getting a new film off the ground by the name of The Gone World, as reported by Deadline.

20th Century Fox are producing the film (a sign that no hard feelings exist between director and studio after Alien 5 was dropped), which will be based on the upcoming book by Thomas Sweterlitsch (who received praise for his debut Tomorrow and Tomorrow). As the source novel isn’t even released as of yet, there are no plot details – but we could infer from the title alone that this will be some kind of large-scope science fiction, most likely in line with Blomkamp’s earlier work like Elysium and Chappie.

No release date has been set for The Gone World, but we’re just glad that Blomkamp hasn’t wallowed in the launch-failure of his Alien movie: with any luck, that could end up being his next film.