J.J. Abrams getting close to God Particle

Vulture reports that Paramount Pictures has grabbed a script titled God Particle for J.J. Abrams and his Bad Robot production company to develop. The story comes from Oren Uziel — who wrote the zombies, vampires, and aliens action-comedy The Kitchen Sink for Sony Pictures.

God Particle takes place after a physics experiment with a large hadron accelerator causes the Earth to seemingly vanish completely, leaving the crew of an orbiting U.S. space station floating in space. When a European spacecraft appears on their radar, the Americans must determine whether it’s their salvation, or even more danger. Paramount’s plan is to shoot God Particle for less than $5 million. According to the report, it’s unlikely that Abrams himself will direct the film, which may be released by Paramount’s new micro-budget shingle Insurge Pictures, which launched in 2010.

Paramount has some experience with these major-mini projects. The studio’s Paranormal Activity franchise has grossed $575 million worldwide from three films whose combined budgets are less than $9 million.