Berg Will Sink Your Battleship in July 2011

Published by Jeff Leins on: September 22nd, 2009

Universal has set a target date for Peter Berg’s Battleship, a feature film adaptation of the peg-based board game. The live-action naval adventure from Hasbro will hit the big screen July 1, 2011.

The script was written by Whiteout writers Erich and Jon Hoeber.  Berg called the pic “a contemporary story of an international five-ship fleet engaged in a very dynamic, violent and intense battle.” Let me guess, the fleet will consist of a destroyer, submarine, aircraft carrier, battleship, and patrol boat? No word yet on what they’ll be battling though. I hope it’s the ice-skating polar bears from “Don’t Break the Ice.”

Battleship is Berg’s next movie, so his version of Dune and a sequel to Hancock will have to wait.  Neither of those have a completed script yet.  Berg recently said Dune would be “hard PG-13″ with potential for a series of movies.

The studio has already set another toy-to-movie, Stretch Armstrong, for April 2011. Steve Oederkerk is delivering a script soon and the rumor is Ron Howard is interested in the director’s chair.

As from those two, Universal is also working on another Clue with Pirates director Gore Verbinski, a Monopoly movie with Ridley Scott, Candyland: The Movie with director Kevin Lima, and a Ouija Board horror movie from Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes production company.

Universal Pictures heads summed up just about how the studio feels about the new Hollywood era.  “This is a powerful brand, and in an era where brands have become the new stars, ‘Battleship’ is a big opportunity,” Universal Pictures chairmen Marc Shmuger and David Linde told Variety last week.

Speaking of Berg, he has moved on from futuristic robot boxing movie Real Steel and Night at the Museum director Shawn Levy has replaced him for Steven Spielberg and co. at DreamWorks.