Orson Scott Card’s epic sci-fi tale Ender’s Game back in development for the big screen

According to The L.A. times, the sci-fi film adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s seminal epic tale Ender’s Game is now back in active development, as independent production company Odd Lot Entertainment moves forward on a movie project of the Hugo and Nebula award-winning novel.

According to sources, Tsotsi and X Men Origins: Wolverine director Gavin Hood recently completed a rewrite of Card’s most recent script and is developing the film as a directing vehicle.

Sci-fi novelist Orson Scott Card garnered significant acclaim for his 1985 sci-fi novel Ender’s Game, which was based on his own short story, centering on a world where humans faced a serious threat from an alien race known as the Formics. In response, world governments begin training elite military units, one of which – a child named Andrew Wiggin – becomes a top-flight solider and helps save Earth by fighting simulations that turn out to be real.

The book was praised for its dystopian militarism, but also generated controversy for what critics said was extreme violence, and the use of child soldiers. Card went on to write several sequels depicting the character as a teenager and later an adult, and the franchise also spun off into comic books.

There have been numerous attempts to get a film project off the ground over the years, with Wolfgang Petersen once considering the director’s chair. But studios have apparently found the book’s large-scale battles as budget-heavy. At the same time, Card himself has insisted a film not go effects-heavy, telling The Times last year that he envisioned a film “where the human relationships are absolutely essential – an honest presentation of the story.”