Did you know that right now, as you read this, there is an asteroid flying toward Earth that has a small chance of hitting us? It’s very, very true. The asteroid is called 2024 YR4, and it’s the subject of an upcoming novel, which just sold its movie rights, and both have some very recognizable names attached to them.
Scheduled for publication early in 2027, the novel itself is called The Last Orbit, and it’s the latest work by Ben Mezrich. Mezrich is famous for writing books that have become movies, most notably The Accidental Billionaires, which became David Fincher’s The Social Network. He also wrote Bringing Down the House (which became 21) and The Antisocial Network (which became Dumb Money).
This one, however, is not a non-fiction book like those. It’s speculative fiction, spinning a fictional tale from real-life facts. For example, if 2024 YR4 were actually going to hit Earth, what could we do realistically about it? Think Armageddon, but a little more based on facts.
Though the book is still months from release, Deadline reports TriStar Pictures has acquired the film rights and set Matt Shakman (The Fantastic Four: First Steps) to direct from an adapted screenplay by Josh Friedman (Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes). There’s no word on when this might happen, but for comparison, in two weeks, another space adventure film based on a novel is coming out called Project Hail Mary, and that took six years to hit the big screen.
Now, lucky for you, you are reading this on io9, which is part of Gizmodo, which has an incredible science team. They’ve been covering the real-life 2024 YR4 for a while now and have reported that it has a 4% chance of hitting us in 2032. Which is pretty slim, right? You’d take those odds all day. But, on the other hand, there is still a chance it hits us, and, well, that would not be good. Hence, whatever happens in Mezrich’s book.
You can read even more about the asteroid at these links. And we’ll keep an eye on the sky about the film adaptation too.
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