The Master Of Disaster downscales for Blair Witch-style SF/horror outing...

Director Roland Emmerich is returning to the alien-invasion territory he covered with such a huge budget (and 4th July opening day) in 1996 with Independence Day. But his new project The Zone will be a more elliptical affair, utilising the 'found footage' technique of Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield.

The Zone is pretty low-risk, with a budget - $5m - that wouldn't have paid for Craft Services on Independence Day, but I guess he'll get to make it his way and that we'll see it sooner rather than later.

Chats with a Hollywood trade insider over the last 12 months have constantly come back to how few movies are actually being made in Tinseltown compared to pre-recession days. The likes of Emmerich, perhaps, would not get to make The Zone as a $100m effort without a few wizards or elves these days - hell, if Cameron transited from hard sci-fi to...whatever Avatar is, it's no wonder to see the likes of Carpenter and Shyamalan hook into the current trends for new outings.

So kudos to Emmerich for thinking small and saving his pet loves in a continuing climate of fear that Hollywood has not known for some decades. All must pass...

MTV

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