Picture: Getty Images / David Koepp
It was meant to be Kathryn Bigelow’s big movie following the 2017 movie Detroit but a new report suggests that the thriller Aurora is no longer moving forward at Netflix.
Based on the 2022 novel by David Koepp, the film was set to follow a divorced mother who was doing everything she could to protect her teenager and her estranged brother, a wealthy Silicon Valley CEO who has built a luxurious bunker in the desert following a solar storm hitting the Earth causing a complete and total blackout.
The movie was first announced by The Hollywood Reporter (and shortly confirmed by Netflix soon after) with Koepp, attached to write the project.
As mentioned, this would’ve served as the first directing roll in at least seven years for the director behind Detroit and The Hurt Locker. This would’ve been her first major Netflix project although she was an executive producer on Netflix’s 2019 movie Triple Frontier.
Andrew Norman was the executive driving the movie at Netflix and is also overseeing the Rebel Moon films from Zack Snyder, ATLAS starring Jennifer Lopez, and is also attached to the Bioshock and Gears of Wars adaptations plus the unannounced adaptation of The Themis Files with Amblin Entertainment.
The last we heard about the production was back in November 2023, when ProductionWeekly included the title in issue 1374, stating that production was due to get underway in “early 2024.” One source also put the budget of the movie at north of $100M.
The project’s cancellation comes via The New York Times (paywalled), which, along with many other outlets, has been profiling Netflix’s future in the movie space.
The news comes just a week after reporting surrounding Netflix’s restructuring of its film department and Dan Lin starting his job as “Chairman of Netflix Film” taking over from Scott Stuber.
The Times report discusses Netflix’s priorities moving forward, with the consensus among the sources they spoke to is that they’re gunning for audience pleasers and big hits rather than auteur-driven movies.
Per the report regarding Aurora, they say:
“It is also no longer moving forward with a film by Kathryn Bigelow based on David Koepp’s apocalyptic novel “Aurora”; the director left the project a few months ago.”
The project is the latest high-profile Netflix movie that was scrapped before production got underway, with many other movies announced over the past few years that are considered inactive. Paris Paramount, a new movie by director Nancy Meyers, was a high-profile movie that was canceled before production started last year. Average Height, Average Build from director Adam McKay was similarly put on permanent hold.
Are you disappointed Netflix isn’t moving forward with its adaptation of Aurora? Let us know in the comments.
