“Martian” Reunion in the Works as Fox Acquires Andy Weir’s New Book “Artemis” for Simon Kinberg to Produce (Exclusive)

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There’s another Martian reunion in the works, as 20th Century Fox has teamed up with New Regency to pre-emptively acquire the movie rights to author Andy Weir’s next book ARTEMIS, the Tracking Board has exclusively learned.

Simon Kinberg and Aditya Sood (pictured above with Weir) will produce for Genre Films. 20th Century Fox executive Steve Asbell will oversee the project for the studio.

Plot details are being kept under wraps, though back in December 2015, Weir told the Huffington Post that his next book would take place in a city on the moon and follow a female protagonist. He also said it would be released by late 2016/early 2017, so it may be safe to assume that Artemis is that very book.

The Martian team previously announced a different reunion last May, with Fox acquiring an untitled pitch from Weir for Kinberg to produce alongside Ridley Scott and his company Scott Free. Michael Schaefer was an executive at Scott Free at the time, but now he’s at New Regency, so it was Schaefer who teamed with Asbell to bring in Artemis.

The Martian was nominated for seven Oscars and won Best Picture and Best Actor at the Golden Globes, where it was somehow deemed a comedy. Regardless of its genre, the film grossed an impressive $630 million worldwide, so Fox is smart to round up the team again.

Kinberg just produced Logan and Deadpool for Fox, and he has Kenneth Branagh’s Murder on the Orient Express coming down the tracks this November. Kinberg is also integral to Fox’s X-Men franchise, which has Dark Phoenix and Josh Boone’s New Mutants on the horizon.

CAA represents Kinberg and Weir, who is also repped by LaunchBooks Literary Agency.

 Jeff Sneider | Editor in Chief