Tom Cruise Sets Sights on Doug Liman's 'Luna Park'
By Pamela McClintock
Tom Cruise is teaming with his Edge of Tomorrow director Doug Liman to make Luna Park, about a group of scientists who build a spaceship in an attempt to travel to the moon and secure a much-needed energy source.
Cruise’s involvement is a boost for the project, which Liman has long wanted to make. In 2011, Liman got close, but Paramount grounded the film over budget concerns. Now, it’s back on at Paramount, where there is new leadership in charge of the production slate.
Cruise will help Liman develop Luna Park with an eye to star. The actor and director are particularly close, having made Edge of Tomorrow and Mena together. Mena, now in post-production, is set to hit theaters Jan. 6, 2017 via Universal.
And Paramount has good reason to keep Cruise happy. The Mission: Impossible franchise continues to deliver strong returns for the studio and partner Skydance Productions, while Cruise is also star of the Jack Reacher series. Cruise begins shooting Jack Reacher 2 this fall.
Luna Park centers on a renegade group of former space employees, led by an Eastern European woman, who travel the world, stealing space equipment in an attempt to go back to the moon to acquire an energy source. The last item to steal – or in this case, kidnap – is an ex-NASA employee.
The script has gone through several substantial rewrites from several high-profile scribes, including, but not limited to, Mark Bowden, Ken Nolan and Simon Kinberg.
Liman first set up the film project at DreamWorks back in 2007, after which it migrated to Paramount.
Watch Tom Cruise recall his best ‘Mission: Impossible’ stunts:
