Dream Team Declare War: Spielberg and Cruise remaking War of the Worlds

You can?t get much more high profile than Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise. They?re the kind of Hollywood players who have only to glance in the general direction of a project to get it made. While their one collaboration to date, Minority Report, was a critical rather than a box office success, their second is H. G. Wells? 1898 sci-fi classic The War of the Worlds, which could triumph on both fronts with Spielberg directing and Cruise in the lead role.

The story, which even those living on the red planet will surely be familiar with, is the story of the invasion of Earth by Martians. In the original story, strange meteorites fall to Earth and split open to reveal metal cylindrical alien craft, which rise up to sweep all before them with the help of their intensely powerful heat rays. How much of that will survive to appear on screen is hard to say – a first draft of the script has been produced but re-writes are now underway. Filming could start late next year if star and director are happy with the script.

The War of the Worlds earned notoriety in 1938 with Orson Welles? famous radio dramatisation in the style of a news broadcast of actual events, which caused panicked Americans to barricade themselves into their homes in fear of alien attack. A film version in 1953 used the word ?Martians? but meant ?Communists?, and boasted the tagline ?Mighty panorama of Earth-shaking fury as an army from Mars invades!? If Spielberg and Cruise can achieve the tension of the radio version, and brush up the acting and special effects of the original film, this will be something very special indeed. Close Encounters meets Mars Attacks! meets Jerry Maguire, perhaps.