Well CBM fans, it seems that J.J. Abrams is up to his old tricks again. Many know that J.J. Abrams would rather have no one know what his projects are until he is ready to launch his add campaigns. He is famously known for the amount of investment he put into his online viral campaign for Cloverfield. Before that was launched, no one had any idea what Cloverfield was, or even what the official name was going to be.
Abrams seems to be following in those footsteps with his new super secret project known only as "500 rads". Very little is known of this project, but what IS known has sparked some guesses as to what this movie will actually be.
Here are the facts:
1. Abrams, in collaboration with his company Bad Robot, are currently producing a movie known only as "500 rads." Whether this will be the final title, or if it is a temporary working title is unknown.
2. The movie will have a budget of only 25 million dollars. (Fans of Cloverfield will remember that this is the exact amount of the budget for Cloverfield.)
3. J.J. Abrams came up with the story, and originally snagged fellow Bad Robot posse member Jeff Pinkner to write the screenplay. Pinkner has since dropped off of the project due to his responsibilities to Lost. It is now unclear who will pick up the screenplay writing responsibilities, but it would not be a far reach to assume Abrams would handle it if no one else is able to step up.
4. RAD refers to the "Radiation Absorption Dose". 500 rad is the point at which the amount of absorbed radiation begins causing infertility, mutation, and death in humans. (Some sources will say infertility begins at 300 rad, however.)
5. It was reported that this movie will be in the same vein as "Cloverfield" and "28 Days Later."
6. This information was reported to slashfilm.com by "an inside, reliable source."
And now for the possibilities:
1. The Dark Tower:
Fans of the Dark Tower know that the story takes place in a world far in the future that has been ravaged by a great nuclear war. Many people, inhabitants, and animals of this world are mutated due to the radiation. Abrams also purchased the rights to make The Dark Tower movies from Stephen King. (for 19 dollars if ya kennit:) The low budget of the movie makes this highly doubtful, but you never know.
2. Cloverfield 2:
The fact that the budget is exactly the same as Cloverfield raises some interesting questions. The end of Cloverfield ended with the military dropping a nuclear bomb on New York. Could the 500 rad refer to the fallout of the bomb? The Cloverfield monster itself was some kind of mutated animal. Could it hint at the origins of the monster?? There is a fairly possible chance that this could be sequel to Cloverfield.
3. Fallout:
Fans of the video games Fallout know that "rad" have a big part to play in the story, as well as gameplay. Again, Fallout takes place in a world ravaged by nuclear war, with many inhabitants being mutated into "ghouls". Again, this might be a little unlikely due to the budget and appeal of the game. One would think that a fallout game would be announced, and not kept so secret.
4. An unnamed zombie movie: Considering the fact that 500 rad deals with the mutation of humans, it would not be very far fetched to assume that Abrams is doing his take of the zombie genre. One of the plot points involved in many zombie media deal with the outbreak being caused by radiation. Does this seem like something Abrams would do?? Abrams is known for doing new and interesting things, and lets face it, the zombie genre is a little tired these days. Its anyone's guess.
And there you have it. Everything that is known about Abrams' "500 rad." It is a whole lot of information that doesn't tell NEARLY enough. So what do you think CBM'ers?? I'm a huge J.J. Abrams fan, so personally, i'm stoked!