Beauty and the Beast producers to adapt sci-fi thriller The Punch Escrow
David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman of Mandeville Films will produce Lionsgate‘s adaptation of Tal M. Klein’s novel, The Punch Escrow, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The duo produced Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, which grossed nearly $1.263 billion dollars earlier this year.
James Bobin (The Muppets) is attached to direct the film. The novel, which was just published by Geek & Sundry on July 25, 2017, is described as follows:
It’s the year 2147. Advancements in nanotechnology have enabled us to control aging. We’ve genetically engineered mosquitoes to feast on carbon fumes instead of blood, ending air pollution. And teleportation has become the ideal mode of transportation, offered exclusively by International Transport—the world’s most powerful corporation, in a world controlled by corporations.
Joel Byram spends his days training artificial-intelligence engines to act more human and trying to salvage his deteriorating marriage. He’s pretty much an everyday twenty-second century guy with everyday problems—until he’s accidentally duplicated while teleporting.
Now Joel must outsmart the shadowy organization that controls teleportation, outrun the religious sect out to destroy it, and find a way to get back to the woman he loves in a world that now has two of him.
Hoberman and Lieberman also produced James Bobin’s The Muppets.
“Tal has crafted such a uniquely vivid world that compels us to ask critical questions of our own about our relationship with technology,” Lieberman said in a statement. “And he does it with such ease, accessibility, and humor that you leave the read feeling educated, emotionally moved and highly entertained all at the same time.”
Are you looking forward to The Punch Escrow? Have you had a chance to read the book? Let us know in the comments!