Sci-Fi Film and Television Developments

Battle: Los Angeles

3/22/10 – SCI FI Wire reported that Battle: Los Angeles stars Aaron Eckhart as the leader of a Marine squad fighting off an alien invasion in L.A. Taylor Handley plays a Marine in the squad.  "It's kind of cool, because all the alien movies in the past, it really involves the world as a whole," Handley said. "In this movie it's different, because it just focuses on one fire squad in particular."  Battle: Los Angeles can show the nitty-gritty specific operations of just how one branch of the military could operate an anti-alien campaign.  "It's just how they do their ops in the middle of downtown Los Angeles," Handley continued. "It's really cool. It doesn't flash to any big president or anything. It's really all about the boys defending American soil."  The actors went through the standard Hollywood boot camp so they could look like they understood the tactics they'd be acting out. "Oh, man, shoot machine guns, fly over cars, just rock 'n' roll," Handley bragged. "We had some great guys giving us all the tips. We did a three-week boot camp, learned a lot of drills, a lot of tactics. That was really fun. That was probably my favorite part."  There is some hand-to-hand combat, too, Handley hinted. "Face to face with the aliens," he teased. "I can't really tell you that."  Battle: Los Angeles, directed by Jonathan Liebesman, is due Feb. 18, 2011, from Columbia Pictures.

9/9/09 – SCI FI Wire reported that Aaron Eckhart was scheduled to begin filming the alien invasion movie Battle: Los Angeles today; the film portrays the fight between marines and aliens in the City of Angels.  "We've got a great shooter [Lukas Ettlin], and he's going to do it like Black Hawk Down meets Alien," Eckhart said. "So it's going to be real marine stuff. He's going to film it in a very documentary style."  To play marines, Eckhart and his co-stars spent three weeks in boot camp. Eckhart flexed his muscles to demonstrate his commitment to authenticity.  "I'm ready," Eckhart continued. "We have been in boot camp for three weeks. We've trained hard for it. I'm coming dead right off boot camp into it. The director, Jonathan Liebesman, is great. We know our stuff."  The day before principal photography began, Eckhart was confident that Battle: Los Angeles has an edge over the likes of Independence Day and War of the Worlds.  "It's going to be no ordinary aliens movie, I guarantee you that," he declared. "It's going to be outrageous. This movie's going to be so great. I go out on a limb in saying that."  Battle: Los Angeles is slated for release in February 2011.

8/18/09 - Columbia Pictures has set a Feb. 18, 2011, release date for director Jonathan Liebesman's sci-fi action-adventure Battle: Los Angeles, ComingSoon.net reported; the film revolves around a Marine staff sergeant (Aaron Eckhart) and his new platoon's battle against an alien invasion on the streets of Los Angeles.

7/30/09 - Michelle Rodriguez, Michael Pena and Bridget Moynahan have been recruited to join Columbia's sci-fi action movie Battle: Los Angeles, according to The Hollywood Reporter.  The sci-fi action film, directed by Jonathan Liebesman and produced by Original Film's Neal Moritz, stars Aaron Eckhart and is set to begin production in the fall.  Battle revolves around a Marine staff sergeant (Eckhart) and his new platoon's battle against an alien invasion on the streets of Los Angeles.  Rodriguez will play Cpl. Adriana Santos, a member of a radio battalion.  Pena plays the father of a boy the Marines find along the way, and Moynahan plays a veterinarian.

7/10/09 - Production Weekly tweeted that Jonathan Liebesman's sci-fi action movie Battle: Los Angeles has opened up production offices in Baton Rouge, La., for a September shoot.

3/27/09 - Scott Silver has been hired to rewrite Battle: Los Angeles for Columbia, according to The Hollywood Reporter; Chris Bertolini's original screenplay deals with an alien invasion pulverizing its way across L.A.

11/17/08 - Aaron Eckhart is attached to star in Battle: Los Angeles, an SF movie that Jonathan Liebesman is directing for Columbia, according to The Hollywood Reporter.  The story, written by Chris Bertolini, revolves around a Marine platoon's encounter in the battle on the streets of Los Angeles against an alien invasion. Eckhart will play the platoon leader in the film, which has yet to set a start date.

10/2/08 - Jonathan Liebesman is in negotiations to direct Battle: Los Angeles, an SF action movie from Neal Moritz and his Original Films for Columbia Pictures, according to The Hollywood Reporter.  The story follows one Marine platoon's encounter in the battle against an alien invasion on the streets of Los Angeles.  Liebesman beat out several other prospects for the job by making a whiz-bang presentation that showed his specific vision and passion for the project, described as Black Hawk Down meets Independence Day.  In August, Liebesman went out to locations in Santa Monica, Calif., and downtown Los Angeles, shooting sequences and plates and adding computer-generated aliens. He also created a pre-visualized alien invasion sequence.  The South African helmer directed The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning and Darkness Falls.

04/11/08 - Sony's Columbia Pictures unit has acquired Battle: Los Angeles, a Chris Bertolini spec script about an alien invasion that starts in Santa Monica, California and heads east toward Los Angeles.  Neal Moritz will produce.

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