What’s “Tron: Ares” director Joachim Rønning up to after his new film hits theaters on October 10? Deadline reports that Paramount won the auction for the director’s next picture, a survival thriller called “Here Be Monsters,” set on the deep ocean.
Plot details are under wraps right now, but the film’s title suggests a movie in a similar vein to tense, isolated films like “Alien” and “The Thing.” And coincidentally, Ridley Scott‘s banner, Scott Free, leads the project’s producers, with Scott, Michael Pruss, and Rebecca Feuer on board. But it may be wiser to view “Here Be Monsters” as primarily a Rønning vehicle. The director co-writes the movie’s script with his brother Andreas Rønning, with revisions by Noah Harpster and Micah Fitzerman-Blue.
Rønning is no stranger to directing on water either. Right before “Tron: Ares,” he made “The Young Woman And The Sea” with Daisy Ridley, about American swimmer Gertrude Ederle, and before that, “Kon-Tiki,” a biopic about Pacific explorer Thor Heyerdahl. Then there’s 2017’s “Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales,” a blockbuster Rønning co-directed with Espen Sandberg (the pair also co-directed “Kon-Tiki”). That level of experience directing on water should assuage any fears Paramount has for a movie made at sea. Film productions on water are particularly costly and fraught with unforeseen issues, but Rønning’s experience should keep this one afloat.
With Rønning lining up another blockbuster before “Tron: Ares” hits theaters, one could surmise that Disney is confident it’ll be a moneymaker. And for Paramount, “Here Be Monsters” could be another blockbuster franchise to add alongside “Mission: Impossible,” “Top Gun,” and “Sonic The Hedgehog,” their 2020s cash cows. But let’s wait for more details on this one before any further bold predictions.
