Skip to main content

Attack The Block director Joe Cornish tapped for Snow Crash adaptation

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Statistically speaking, we feel safe in assuming that the vast majority of you reading this site will have, at one point or another, read Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash. Alongside William Gibson’s Neuromancer, Snow Crash codified the core concepts of the “cyberpunk” subgenre and in hindsight, many of the ideas discussed as fiction in Stephenson’s book seem utterly prophetic. Stephenson wrote of vast online virtual worlds populated by massively stylized avatars long before the first modern MMO, and his “Earth” software seems like a blueprint for nearly every global mapping program in use today.

Additionally, the novel was a huge success, selling millions of copies and earning nominations for both an Arthur C. Clarke Award and a British Science Fiction Award. As one would expect this made Hollywood very keen to adapt the book for film, yet after Paramount tried (and failed) to mount a production shortly after the book’s publication, it has languished in Tinsel Town limbo, with most fans and Hollywood types describing the tale as unfilmably dense.

Apparently Paramount has developed a renewed interest in the story however, as Deadline reports that the studio has hired Joe Cornish to helm a new adaptation of Stephenson’s novel. Though relatively new to the filmmaking business, Cornish recently saw massive accolades for directing Attack The Block, a film that pitted a group of young British toughs against invaders from space. Roger Ebert described the film as “an entertaining thriller in the tradition of 1970s B-action films, with an unknown cast, energetic special effects and great energy,” and Rotten Tomatoes currently displays a 90 percent cumulative critical score for the flick.

Still, it remains to be seen if Cornish can build a movie based on Stephenson’s intensely detailed sci-fi world, both due to the density of crucial plot information, and the wildly creative environments the novel is set in. In the two decades since Snow Crash debuted, many sci-fi properties have lifted concepts wholesale from the book that, in our modern era, have attained cliche status. Most prominently, Neo from the Matrix trilogy is an aesthetic carbon copy of Stephenson’s Snow Crash protagonist (the aptly named “Hiro Protagonist”), and as we mentioned above, things like vast, interconnected virtual worlds (which seemed utterly futuristic in 1992) are almost taken for granted in 2012.

The project is still very early in production so there’s no word on when Snow Crash might hit theaters, but as fans of the novel we’re going to err toward cautious optimism. Cornish has yet to utterly fail the viewing public, and more crucially we adore the source material so much that we’re desperately hoping the movie adaptation lives up to its inventive, thought-provoking pedigree. Done correctly, this could be a modern day Blade Runner, and we’d rather not imagine the myriad ways in which it could fail.

Earnest Cavalli
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Earnest Cavalli has been writing about games, tech and digital culture since 2005 for outlets including Wired, Joystiq…
Where to watch the People’s Choice Country Awards
The group known as Little Big Town in promo art for the People's Choice Country Awards.

This week, country music lovers are excited about the first-ever People's Choice Country Awards, which puts the power to honor the best country superstars in the hands of the fans themselves. And if you're looking to find out where you can watch the People's Choice Country Awards, then you've come to the right place!

NBC is the broadcast network partner for the inaugural People’s Choice Country Awards on Thursday, September 28. The event is being televised live from the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville. Additionally, the group known as Little Big Town (pictured above: Jimi Westbrook, Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman, and Phillip Sweet) is going to be hosting the event. The biggest names in country music are in contention for the top prizes, and there will be live performances as well. Watching it on your big screen television is clearly the best option, especially during the songs. But if you're not able to watch the People's Choice Country Awards on television, there are streaming options as well.
Where to watch the People's Choice Country Awards
The People's Choice Country Awards will go live at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT/5 p.m. PT on NBC. Cable subscribers also have the option of streaming it through their providers or on NBC's official site.
Watch the People's Choice Country Awards live stream on Peacock TV

Read more
Everything coming to Netflix in October 2023
The cast of The Fall of the House of Usher.

The Fall of the House of Usher | Official Trailer | Netflix

While there's a multitude of streamers to choose from, Netflix continues to be the primary destination for streaming movies and TV shows. With recent hit shows like The Lincoln Lawyer, Suits, and The Witcher season 3, plus blockbuster movies like Heart of Stone and the popular rom-com Love at First Sight, Netflix still rules the streaming landscape like no other.

Read more
9 Netflix shows you didn’t know existed
Lorenzo Richelmy in Marco Polo.

What's your favorite Netflix series? If you said something like The Witcher, Stranger Things, Orange is the New Black, or Beef, then you may be unintentionally missing out on the hundreds of Netflix shows that you didn't know existed. Not every series created for Netflix manages to become a buzzy hit or an awards show favorite. Many shows simply appear for a season and quietly get canceled with little fanfare beyond the passionate few who managed to find and enjoy the series. This is the reality of the streaming era, especially on Netflix.

Every time something new arrives on Netflix, the streamer prioritizes the latest shows over the ones that didn't have a lasting impact. That's why we've put together this list of the 10 Netflix shows you didn't know existed. Or more likely, these are the series that you forgot about. But that doesn't mean that they don't deserve another chance to earn your attention. And if you're looking for something new to binge, you may find your next favorite show here.
Marco Polo (2014)

Read more