Roland Emmerich Sci-Fi Project 'Singularity' Lands At Sony [Updated]

Here's yet another stopgap measure to keep Foundation fans happy. Roland Emmerich made his latest film, the Shakespeare conspiracy drama/thriller Anonymous, with Sony, and now there is a report that he has a mysterious new sci-fi project with the working title of Singularity. THR reports that Sony has right of first refusal on the film, and while a deal isn't made at this point, it could be something that, like 2012, the studio picks up knowing that he'll deliver something that can easily crack $500m in global ticketing.

The director has been attached to an adaptation of Isaac Asimov's Foundation for some time, and anything else that he makes now is one more project to put some distance between him and that material, for which he seems dramatically unsuited. There is also his possible attachment to Asteroids, but I can't imagine anyone caring if he gets his hands on that particular project. In fact, he's perfect for that one. It is foundation that we'd like to see him not make, so let's hope Singularity and then several other films capture his attention and the interest of financiers for some time to come.

He did say back in February that Foundation was in the budgeting stage:

We've hired a production designer and it's mainly now to find out what the movie will cost. It'll take us until the end of March, then we'll decide. The studio's happy with the script, but now's the time that the numbers count. I want to make a movie that's very different from other science-fiction movies and I don't want to have the burden of too big a budget.

So perhaps the numbers didn't work and it was back to the drawing board?

Update: Deadline says Sony has made the deal for Singularity and given it a May 17, 2013 release date. In other words, that puts Foundation a few more years out at the very least.