Phil Lord and Chris Miller will direct the ‘Martian’ follow-up, ‘Artemis’.
The directing duo have reportedly signed on to helm a movie adaptation of ‘Artemis’, the second novel penned by Andy Weir, who’s first novel ‘The Martian’ was developed into a blockbuster hit starring Matt Damon and directed by Ridley Scott in 2015.
Deadline first reported the news, and a source close to the production later confirmed the information to The Wrap.
Andy Weir’s novel is yet to be published and is set for a November 17 release date, but Fox and New Regency acquired the rights to create a movie adaptation back in May, following the huge success of ‘The Martian’, which was also distributed by 20th Century Fox.
‘Artemis’ follows the story of Jasmine Bashara – also known as Jazz – who dreams of getting out of her small town to build a better life for herself, except the small town in question is Artemis, the first and only city on the moon.
Jazz’s mundane life leads her to accept a life-changing and lucrative job offer, and she soon finds herself in the middle of a conspiracy for control of Artemis itself.
For Phil and Chris, both 42, the movie comes as they previously quit working on ‘The Flash’ movie to take up the reigns of the highly anticipated ‘Star Wars’ Han Solo spin-off, which they also later dropped out of.
The duo – who previously found success helming movies such as ’21 Jump Street’ and ‘The Lego Movie’ – are currently penning the animated ‘Spider-Man’ feature, and have been rumoured to be returning to ‘The Flash’, although it’s unknown if this new project will replace their speculated work on the DC Extended Universe project for good.
Phil Lord and Chris Miller to helm Artemis
