Fox buys “Untitled Apocalypse Project” from writers Jeremy Passmore and Andre Fabrizio:
The project is based on an original idea about a group of people who survive the end of the world and the mystery surrounding how they got to that position.The apocalypse and all that follows is going through one of its semi-regular renaissances in Hollywood, with Sony set to release the Roland Emmerich end-of-days pic “2012″ on Friday.
The Book of Revelations almost didn’t make it into the New Testament canon. I wonder if human culture would have anything near the obsession it does with the ‘End Times’ if it hadn’t made the cut.
Also reminds me that when I was at Yale Divinity School, some of the students there put out a semi-regular satirical newsletter called “Eschatology Today.” Stupid me. I had a pitch for a blockbuster Hwood pitch staring me right in the face and never saw it!
One of the things I haven't seen much with the apocalypse genre – with few exceptions – is a structural change.
The apocalypse is usually the beginning of Act 3, I would like to see it as the beginning of Act 2, and the rest of the film being about survival past that date.
That's just a thought.
In response to your thought on obsession with end times…
I think AMERICA is obsessed with end times because of Revelations, but look at 2012. The Mayans were as adamant about the end of time as they were about ritualistic human sacrifice. I think every "civilization" that's been given the convenience of being able to develop philosophy has an "end times" theory. Even the scientific community has spent billions of dollars and hours on figuring out what the next celestial collision will be. When will earth go extinct again?
It's more a fascination with death than end times, I think. Besides, for believers, Revelation means going home, so it isn't always negative.