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Tony Scott has boarded the Fox thriller "Unstoppable," intending to make it the next film he directs.
That puts "Unstoppable" on an express track toward production. Scott is working with screenwriter Mark Bomback to get the picture in shape to be shot later this year.

The drama involves an unmanned runaway train that is carrying a cargo of toxic chemicals. An engineer and his conductor find themselves in a race against time.

Julie Yorn is producing, and Scott will board the project as a producer as well

The Denzel Washington-Tony Scott runaway-train pic, at one time on the fast track at Fox, is slowing down as a result of disagreements over the appropriate budget.

The project was aiming for a fall shoot -- it is in an early stage of preproduction -- and Washington and Scott said as recently as several weeks ago they were moving forward on that assumption.

But the studio has concerns about the cost of physical production on the action-heavy film, which could lead to the project being put on hold.

Neither the main acting deals -- for Washington and "Star Trek" star Chris Pine -- nor Scott's directing deal are closed.

Washington is an A-lister who earns as much as $20 million per picture at a time when studios say they want to rein in star salaries.

Hollywood execs are pointing to such star-driven projects as "Land of the Lost" and the Washington-Scott actioner "The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3," which have faltered at the boxoffice, while concept-driven pics including "Up," "Star Trek" and "The Hangover" have flourished. (Ironically, "Trek" star Pine was one of the actors who broke out in a concept movie; "Unstoppable" was to be a coming-out party of sorts.)

Known for their high production values, Scott's movies tend to travel in a higher-budget range. But Fox is known for managing costs by examining budgets critically.

Neither the studio nor producers would comment for this report.

The pic is hardly the only example of a movie imperiled because of financial considerations

SFI hat geschrieben:Scott ist der Regiemann der 20 Mio $ Starts. Nach dem U-Bahn Film und Deja Vue startet auch der neue Streifen mit lediglich 23 Mio $. Sicher kein Flop in Anbetracht des 100 Mio $ Budgets aber auch nicht pralle. Versteh echt nicht, was Scott in den letzten Jahren so reitet, aber es wird mal wieder Zeit für ein richtiges Brett mit einem Thema abseits von Zügen.

StS hat geschrieben:Naja, der Film sammelt zumindest fleißig gute Kritiken (u.a. 86% bei Rottentomatoes) - mal sehen, ob er auf diesem Wege das Kino-Ergebnis von "Pelham" (in den USA 65 Millionen, 150 gesamt) übertreffen kann...