Columbus Knows 'How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe'

After taking the reins at the start of fantasy adaptations like Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (as well as Chamber of Secrets) and Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, Chris Columbus is moving on to sci-fi. THR reports Columbus and his 1492 Pictures banner has snagged the film rights to How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, the first novel from writer Charles Yu. However, Columbus will not be in the director's chair for this project. Instead New York University film school graduate and 2009 Student Academy Award winner Brendan Bellomo will direct the film adaptation.

The story follows a time travel machine repairman, who happens to be named after the author of the book, who has spent the last ten years traveling through time in search of his father who has disappeared. But when Yu falls into a time loop, he must somehow find a way to save the future. Sounds like a big sci-fi project for a first-time director, especially since this novel made Time Magazine's list of the Top 10 Fiction Books of 2010 and also make The New York Times' 100 Notable Books of 2010. However, Bellomo's sci-fi student film Bohemibot (watch the trailer right here) certainly shows that he has the skills for this kind of material. Time travel stories are one of my favorite subgenres in the science fiction world, and while they're difficult to crack, this one sounds like it has the potential to be truly great.

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