DreamWorks Studios and Doubleday Acquire Rights to 'Robopocalypse'

November 3, 2009

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- DreamWorks Studios and Doubleday have acquired, in a pre-emptive deal, the rights to Daniel H. Wilson's unpublished manuscript, "Robopocalypse," it was announced today by Mark Sourian and Holly Bario, Co-Presidents of Production at the studio, and Jason Kaufman, Executive Editor and Vice President, at Doubleday.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20091103/LA04506)

DreamWorks acquired the film rights from literary manager Justin Manask and is putting the project into accelerated development. Kaufman acquired world publishing rights to "Robopocalypse" from Laurie Fox at the Linda Chester Literary Agency and a tentative 2011 publication date has been set for the book.

"Robopocalypse" explores the fate of the human race following a robot uprising.

"Daniel H. Wilson's cautionary tale of man versus machine grabbed us from the very beginning," said Mark Sourian. "Wilson's background in robotics and artificial intelligence grounds his story with a frightening level of realism and he has created an exhilarating story that we think audiences will really respond to."

"As a book editor, you're always looking for something unique and riveting to come across the transom," said Jason Kaufman. "'Robopocalypse' is one of the most exciting and original novels I've read in a very long time. Daniel H. Wilson is not only a brilliant robotics engineer but also an extraordinary writing talent."

"Writing this novel is an incredible thrill, after spending years studying and thinking about robotics," said Daniel H. Wilson. "It's an honor to work with DreamWorks Studios to bring this vision to life, and I couldn't have hoped for a better editor than Jason Kaufman at Doubleday. My hope is that the story we tell will make the robots of the future proud of us humans."

Daniel H. Wilson's previous works include the 2005 book "How to Survive a Robot Uprising: Tips on Defending Yourself Against the Coming Rebellion," which was optioned by Paramount Pictures with Michael DeLuca attached to produce. His other books include "Where's My Jetpack?: A Guide to the Amazing Science Fiction Future That Never Arrived," "How To Build a Robot Army: Tips on Defending Planet Earth Against Aliens, Ninjas, and Zombies," and "The Mad Scientist Hall of Fame: Muwahahaha!" His next book, titled "Bro-Jitsu: The Martial Art of Sibling Smackdown," is scheduled for release next year. "Bro-Jitsu" was optioned by Nickelodeon Movies and Wilson hired to pen the screenplay adaptation. He has a Ph.D. in robotics from Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute in Pittsburgh, PA, is a contributing editor to "Popular Mechanics," and hosted a show on the History Channel called "The Works."

About DreamWorks Studios

DreamWorks Studios is a motion picture company led by Steven Spielberg and Stacey Snider in partnership with The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. The new company is a continuation of DreamWorks Studios which was formed in 1994 by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen. The company expects to put into production 5 to 6 films per year.

About Doubleday

The Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group is a division of Random House Inc., whose parent company is Bertelsmann AG.

SOURCE DreamWorks Studios