Robert Zemeckis May Return to Live-Action with ‘Timeless,’ Considered ‘Superman’

Robert Zemeckis has been very active over the past ten years, working to push forward the art of 3D and motion capture with The Polar Express, Beowulf and A Christmas Carol. But when his 3D company, ImageMovers Digital, was abandoned by Disney early this year, there was great supposition about what the filmmaker’s next move might be. We know he’s making Yellow Submarine, but would he continue in digitized animation?

Now he’s got another possible road back to live-action with a film called Timeless. Warner Bros. just picked up the pitch, which would be the first live-action Zemeckis film since Cast Away in 2000.

Deadline says that Zemeckis and his production company have been making deals with Warner Bros. in the wake of Disney’s turn away from ImageMovers Digital, which Disney will close next year.

WB picked up the pitch for Timeless, which will be scripted by Mike Thompson. Deadline positions the story as a big-budget tentpole time-travel film, but doesn’t offer any particular details about what the pitch actually outlined.

Deadline also says that Zemeckis has been “kicking the tires on live-action projects such as Superman.” That’s an interesting notion, and a direction I wouldn’t mind seeing Superman take. A Christmas Carol had so much flying through London streets it half felt like a Superman movie at times.

There are other possible Zemeckis films, like the possible Roger Rabbit sequel and the film Dark Life, which came to light early this year, but after the ImageMovers shuttering news. Both of those would be Disney projects, so it will be interesting to see how the new Zemeckis / Warner Bros. relationship develops.