World Without Us being adapted to big budget tentpole

Man’s disappearance from the planet Earth is set to become big box office. Fox has nabbed film rights to an environmental non-fiction book titled The World Without Us, and intend to turn it into a tentpole feature for Mark Protosevich (The Cell, Poseidon) to write and Francis Lawrence (Constantine, I Am Legend) to direct, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The bestselling book by Alan Weisman took on the idea of life on Earth if humans were suddenly to disappear. The book explores which man-made objects would last and how long, and how nature would spread over built environments. The studio isn’t looking to make a documentary but rather a dramatic feature based on the book’s science.

Lawrence and Protosevich worked together on Will Smith’s last man in New York film I Am Legend, so the subject matter isn’t new to them.

After writing World Without Us, the report indicates that Protosevich will begin work on Universal/DreamWorks’ Old Boy remake, which also has Smith attached to star and Steven Spielberg directing. He also wrote the screenplay for the upcoming Kenneth Branagh-directed Thor comic adaptation.

Lawrence is in pre-production on Eddie Dickens and the Awful End, an animated feature based on a novel by Philip Ardagh about an orphan whose parents are stricken by the ludicrous Sick with Worry disease.