Update: Channing Tatum to star in the scifi film The Forever War for WB

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

UPDATE: Warner Bros has won the bidding war for THE FOREVER WAR according to Deadline. Channing Tatum is locked in to star but no further details have been revealed.

There is a bidding war going on right now between Warner Bros and Sony for the rights to produce the big screen version of classic scifi novel THE FOREVER WAR. Last we hear, THE FOREVER WAR was being developed as a project for Ridley Scott. Since then, it has bounced around aimlessly. This latest version of the film comes courtesy of screenwriter Jon Spaihts (PROMETHEUS) and Channing Tatum set to star.

The novel, an award-winner for author Joe Haldeman upon it's release in the 1970s, is an allegory for the Vietnam War and was followed by two sequels. It is widely considered one of the best scifi novels of all time and is being eyed as a potential franchise for whichever studio lands the rights.

The Earth's leaders have drawn a line in the interstellar sand–despite the fact that the fierce alien enemy they would oppose is inscrutable, unconquerable, and very far away. A reluctant conscript drafted into an elite Military unit, Private William Mandella has been propelled through space and time to fight in the distant thousand-year conflict; to perform his duties and do whatever it takes to survive the ordeal and return home. But "home" may be even more terrifying than battle, because, thanks to the time dilation caused by space travel, Mandella is aging months while the Earth he left behind is aging centuries…

Channing Tatum has been very hit or miss in recent years with a pair of bombs on his resume (WHITE HOUSE DOWN, JUPITER ASCENDING). But, Tatum's production company Free Association landed the rights after 20th Century Fox's plan with Ridley Scott fell through. Sources tell Deadline that Warner Bros is close to finalizing a deal for THE FOREVER WAR while Sony is close to their own. Whichever studio ends up with the rights, I would expect them to move quickly on making this happen. There is currently no director attached.

Good war films have been in abundance in recent years but there is always room for scifi adaptations. EDGE OF TOMORROW may not have been a box office smash, but it did win over a lot of fans on Blu-ray and DVD. THE FOREVER WAR, if handled properly, could be both a critical and commercial hit.