Monster television hit Primeval has been picked up by Warner Bros. for a theatrical debut. It’s a British monster-of-the-week show from England’s ITV network currently in it’s third season in the US on BBC America. It features a group of scientists and government employees who’ve discovered a series of anomalies (time portals) that allow passage to and from the prehistoric past. The team tries to understand these doorways while constantly staying on alert for the deadly creatures that keep popping through and terrorizing and/or eating Londoners.
WB is currently looking for a scribe for the film which will be produced by Akiva Goldsman and Kerry Foster. The latter expressed enthusiasm for the material saying “There is a solid mythology to the series, but the movie has the dinosaur element of ‘Jurassic Park’ and the time travel element of ‘Lost,’ and it just feels like the kind of big movie that Warner Bros. does well.”
The show was created by the team behind the uber-successful “Walking With Dinosaurs” series popular on the Discovery Channel. The series is best known for it’s very impressive CGI dinosaur and creature work, and that same effort goes into the effects for the show. Those creations combined with interesting and likable characters, fantastic action sequences, and an ongoing dramatic storyline have made Primeval a recent favorite of mine. Seasons one and two are currently available on DVD and season three starts this weekend on BBC America.
Have you watched the show? What do you think about a film version?
