John Davis, in association with 20th Century Fox, has optioned the rights to The Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury‘s collection of short science fiction stories.

The basic premise of the book is that Earth is well on its way to becoming all but uninhabitable, and the human species has come to the conclusion that they must colonize Mars. When they arrive many complications arise, including trying to make the red planet a new Earth, a worldwide nuclear war looming back on their home planet, and the differences between them and Mars’ native inhabitants.

Many of Bradbury’s short stories were written and published in science fiction magazines in the late 1940s before coming together in the 1950 book. When written, the stories were set deep into the future in the mid-2030s to 2050s…though some were set in the late 1990s and early double-aughts. Thankfully, we’re not quite at a point where Mars colonization is our only answer.

Davis has a lot of family films under his producing belt, but also was behind Waterworld, Daylight, Predator 1&2, the Alien vs. Predator movies, and Robert Rodriquez’s Predators.

No word on when we might see The Martian Chronicles, but if they hurry, maybe we can see it go head-to-head with Andrew Stanton’s John Carter of Mars!

[LA Times]