A couple of years ago, right after Edgar Wright jetted Marvel's Ant-Man, he began moving on a couple of projects rather than sitting around figuring out what to do. One was Baby Driver, which was a pet project he had been developing for some time. That one hits theaters this summer and looks amazing. The other was an adaptation of YA novel, Grasshopper Jungle, and while it's been sitting dormant ever since Sony dropped it, suddenly it's back on.
Undoubtedly boosted by by the buzz surrounding Wright's Baby Driver, a bidding war erupted over the rights to Grasshopper Jungle, which is based on the book by Andrew Smith. New Regency won out over a group that included Netflix among the bidders. Penned by Scott Rosenberg (High Fidelity), the coming-of-age story "focuses on an Iowa teen trying to come to grips with his own raging hormones and sexual feelings as he and his cohorts cause a deadly genetically engineered plague that unleashes an army of 6-foot-tall praying mantises. Those bugs live the life these guys wish for, acting on an insatiable appetite for fighting, food, and fornicating."
Nothing against Wright's previous collaborations with Nick Frost and Simon Pegg, but he's a more interesting filmmaker right now than ever. Hopefully we'll hear more about this soon.
