EXCLUSIVE: Sam Esmail‘s Esmail Corp is teaming with AfterShock Media on Astronaut Down, a feature adaptation of the 2023 sci-fi thriller title from AfterShock Comics, which F. Scott Frazier (XXX: Return of Xander Cage) is penning for Netflix.
Created by award-winning writer James Patrick (Kaiju Score, Monsters of Jimmy Crumb), with illustrations by Spanish artist Rubine (The Expanse, Look Into My Eyes), Astronaut Down tells the story of Douglas Spritzer, an astronaut selected to be launched into alternate realities on a desperate mission to save Earth from a horrific crisis that has our world on the brink of extinction. Unfortunately, it’s a mission where everything will go wrong, where Douglas’ training and very humanity will be put to the test, and where a deep-seated secret could sabotage everything.
Sam Esmail and Chad Hamilton will produce for Esmail Corp (Mr. Robot, Leave the World Behind), alongside Lee Kramer and Jon Kramer for AfterShock Media, with Nick Krishnamurthy exec producing. James Patrick will act as a consultant.
Esmail Corp returns to Netflix following success with Leave the World Behind, the Esmail-helmed thriller starring Mahershala Ali and Julia Roberts that is the streamer’s eighth-most-popular film of all time with over 143M views.
Perhaps best known for scripting the Vin Diesel actioner xXx: Return of Xander Cage, Frazier recently penned The Initiative, a spy thriller reteaming Angelina Jolie and Doug Liman on the heels of Mr. and Mrs. Smith that’s been set up at Universal. Prior to that, he and collaborator Jimmy Loweree set up the contemporary action adventure flick Outdueled at Amazon with Escape Artists set to produce. The scribe is represented by CAA, manager Chris Cowles at Alldayeveryday, and attorneys Jeff Frankel & Robert Goldman at McKuin Frankel Whitehead.
Esmail Corp produced Esmail’s breakout USA Network series Mr. Robot, starring Rami Malek, before going on to work on series including Briarpatch, Homecoming, Angelyne, Gaslit, and The Resort. Upcoming in film, they have Esmail’s cyberterrorist thriller Panic Carefully, out via Warner Bros. next February, as well as Jody Hill’s A24 pic Famous starring Zac Efron and Kim Je-woon’s The Hole for Amazon MGM.
Comprised of Rive Gauche and AfterShock Comics, AfterShock Media also currently has Undone by Blood in development with AMC Studios and BigBaldHead Productions, with Tony Tost set as showrunner. They are represented by Neil Sacker at Sacker Entertainment Law.
Source: DEADLINE
