For over a decade, Steven Spielberg’s name was attached to what was supposed to be his big return to hard science fiction. But even with a cast that included Chris Hemsworth and Anne Hathaway, a script by a Hollywood heavyweight, and source material that was a New York Times bestseller, the movie ‘Robopocalypse‘ never came out.
Now the legendary director has finally explained why he walked away, and it turns out the financial risk was so scary it could have sunk a studio.
The $200 Million Budget Problem That Killed the Film
In a recent interview with Empire Magazine, Spielberg talked about the adaptation of Daniel H. Wilson’s 2011 novel about an AI uprising. He put it bluntly: “It was gargantuan. It was a company-ender,” he said. “It would have ended a whole studio that would have never made its money back.”
Related: “That’s Where I Draw the Line”: Steven Spielberg Slams AI’s Growing Power in Hollywood
For a guy who made blockbusters like ‘Jurassic Park‘ and ‘Saving Private Ryan,’ calling something a “company-ender” is a huge deal. But the math, especially in the early 2010s, made sense.
Spielberg bought the rights to ‘Robopocalypse‘ before the book even came out. He wanted to tell a story that jumped through time to show a global war between humans and a smart AI named Archos. He brought in Drew Goddard, who wrote ‘The Martian‘ and ‘The Cabin in the Woods‘, to work on the script. By early 2013, pre-production was rolling, and the budget was around $200 million.
But the timing was terrible for his company, DreamWorks. At the time, DreamWorks was dealing with a tricky distribution deal with Disney. They had just spent a lot on the failed movie ‘Cowboys & Aliens‘, and even Spielberg’s passion project ‘Lincoln‘, which later won Oscars, had money problems.
Spielberg said the risk was just too big to pay for on his own. “My company, DreamWorks, financed all these films, and I did not want to bring ‘Robo’ into my own company, because it would have just been too expensive for us to produce,” he told Empire.
How ‘World War Z’s Chaotic Production Made Things Worse
The last straw was the messy production of another big apocalyptic movie. While Spielberg was thinking about moving forward, Paramount Pictures was struggling with Brad Pitt’s ‘World War Z‘. That film’s budget went over $200 million because of major reshoots, and experts thought it would bomb. (It ended up surviving, but barely.)
In case you missed it: How Steven Spielberg Convinced Audrey Hepburn To Return To The Big Screen One Last Time
Looking at all that, Spielberg saw a $200 million robot war movie as a huge risk. Other studios were willing to pay for it if he stayed on as director, but he said no. “I didn’t want to do that to anybody because I couldn’t guarantee the audience,” he admitted. In early 2013, he put the project on hold and later left for good.
The Lost Sci-Fi Film That Was 80% Storyboarded
Even though it got canceled, the project lived on in concept art, and people wondered what could have been. Apparently, it was “80% storyboarded,” so we got a glimpse of what might have been a follow-up to ‘Minority Report.‘
Spielberg has since moved on. He is currently promoting his new sci-fi film ‘Disclosure Day.’ But his decision to walk away is still a really interesting example of a director who defined summer blockbusters by showing rare financial restraint. “So, I literally decided it was going to be the most expensive movie I ever directed, and I wasn’t ready to take that on,” he said.
For a short time, Michael Bay was supposed to direct a cheaper version of ‘Robopocalypse‘ a few years later, but that also fell through. So for now, the story of humanity fighting Archos is stuck in pre-production hell.
You might also want to read: Tom Cruise Dodged a Massive Hollywood Controversy by Rejecting This Steven Spielberg Blockbuster
