Russo Brothers Studio, the company run by CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER and CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR directors Joe and Anthony Russo, has beaten at least four other studios and numerous producers and directors in a bidding war for the film rights to Simon Stålenhag's illustrated novel THE ELECTRIC STATE.
The Russo brothers will be producing the cinematic adaptation with Russell Ackerman, John Schoenfelder, and the Muschietti siblings Andy (director of MAMA and IT) and Barbara. Russo Brothers Studio's production head Mike Larocca will serve as executive producer with Stålenhag and Julian Angelin of The Salomonsson Agency.
Andy Muschietti is also in negotiations to direct the film.
Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, writers of the CAPTAIN AMERICA films, will be writing the screenplay. Stålenhag's story seems to have some similarities to TURBO KID, in that it's set in a dystopian version of the 1990s.
THE ELECTRIC STATE takes place in an alternative 1997 and centers on
a runaway teenager and her yellow toy robot as they travel through a strange USA, where the ruins of gigantic battle drones litter the countryside heaped together with the discarded trash of a high tech consumerist society in decline. As their car approaches the edge of the continent, the world outside the window seems to be unraveling ever faster as if somewhere beyond the horizon, the hollow core of civilization has finally caved in.
This sounds interesting to me, especially with this creative team in place. I'm not sure how dark the story gets, but it seems like this sci-fi road trip movie would give Muschietti a chance to show what he can do outside of the horror genre.