Edgar Wright just left Marvel's Ant-Man movie a couple months ago, but he appears to already have two new films locked up. Deadline reports that Wright's next two movies will be Baby Driver — a long-gestating comedy written by Wright himself — and a young-adult novel adaptation called Grasshopper Jungle. Wright's plans to direct Baby Driver appear to be all but a done deal, and he's said to be fully signed on for Grasshopper Jungle.
There will be gigantic, horny mantises
Details are limited on Baby Driver, but it's reported to be in the same vein as the comedies in his trilogy of films with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost — though the two don't appear to be involved. It'll also involve elements of crime, music, and action.
Given that it's an adaptation, there's a lot more to know about Grasshopper Jungle. The recently-released novel is a sci-fi coming-of-age story involving gigantic praying mantises. The praying mantises are also apparently extraordinarily horny, which presumably plays into some issues that the teen protagonist is dealing with. The screenwriter behind Con-Air will reportedly be creating the script.
Read this book. You will enjoy. http://t.co/2oJrrGpgJ7
— edgarwright (@edgarwright) July 25, 2014
Having just come off of another sci-fi bug tale, Grasshopper Jungle is an interesting choice for Wright to tackle in the near future — and may even allow him to recycle some of his existing plans. It may be disappointing for fans that Wright's Ant-Man, which was in the works for years before he left the project, won't be made, but at least it appears that he's moving on quickly.
Ant-Man itself is clearly coming along too without him, and part of that includes making some changes. Deadline also reported today that the film has lost three actors. Two of them, Matt Gerald and Kevin Weisman, reportedly had their characters written out of the newest version of the script. The other, Patrick Wilson, had to leave because the film's delay led to scheduling issues. Marvel still hasn't provided a substantial update on Ant-Man since announcing that Yes Man director Peyton Reed would be taking over the film, but Marvel's big Comic-Con panel is being held tomorrow night, so there's a good chance that we'll know more very soon.