Original “Pirates of the Caribbean” trilogy and “The Ring” remake director Gore Verbinski will team with original “Utopia” creator Dennis Kelly for the feature film “Sandkings” at Netflix.
An adaptation of “Games of Thrones” author George R.R. Martin’s 1979 novelette, the story follows wealthy playboy and exotic animal collector (and abuser) named Simon Kress who discovers a terrarium filled with four colonies of creatures called sandkings which can grow to fit into whatever space they are kept in.
The creatures exist in four colonies, each led by a large female called ‘the maw’ who telepathically controls numerous insect-like ‘mobiles’ who construct a sandcastle around her to protect her and find food for her. Each colony also engages in coordinated wars with one another
Simon begins starving them and gambling on the outcomes of the wars with friends, but eventually they escape the terrarium and begin to take over his house as their hunger intensifies. The original story won both the Hugo and the Nebula awards.
Baldecchi (“The Mexican”) will produce. The story was previously adapted into a telemovie pilot for “The Outer Limits” relaunch in 1995.
Source: Collider
