According to Deadline Paradise Lost, the action epic inspired by John Milton’s 17th Century poem, has been scrapped by the producers after failing to bring the budget down on the VFX-heavy movie. Production was halted in December as the budget surpassed $120 million, making Legendary Pictures reassess the situation. Now the project is said to have been cancelled entirely. For now, anyway.
Alex Proyas (I, Robot) was set to direct the movie which follows Michael (Benjamin Walker), an archangel engaged in an epic battle of good and evil with Lucifer (Bradley Cooper), who mounts an army after after he is cast out of heaven. The Angel of Death (Djimon Hounso) turns his back on The Devil to tell God of Lucifer’s defection, and God’s six-winged messenger Gabriel (Casey Affleck) also joins the fight to defeat The Devil.
The movie would have required over 72 weeks of post-production due to the digital effects involved. There are said to be three epic battles in the story. One that takes place in Heaven, another in Hell, and a third in Eden. It’s unlikely Paradise Lost will move forward “until technological advancements in visual effects bring to a reasonable cost the task of creating a believable depiction of the celestial battles that are at the heart of this film.”
This move in unfortunate as Paradise Lost sounded like an ambitious project, and no doubt the cast and crew will be disappointed. The movie joins Guillermo del Toro’s Mountains of Madness and Ron Howard’s The Dark Tower on the development scrapheap, after studios passed on the adaptations due to the budgets.
