Primeval Picked Up for Film by Warner Bros.

The new season debuts this weekend on BBC America, but Primeval is headed toward the big screen.

According to Variety, the film rights to the ITV series that airs on BBC America and Sci Fi have been acquired by Warner Bros. in a “high-six-figure deal.”

The film version of the series will be produced by Akiva Goldsman and Kerry Foster via Goldsman’s Weed Road production company, which is based at Warner Bros. Emily Cummins will also produce.

Goldsman will not write the film himself, but rather, will hire a screenwriter to adapt the series about a team that battles both prehistoric and futuristic monsters that travel to the present through wormholes in time. Currently led by former policeman Danny Quinn, the team seeks to both quietly close the wormholes and kill or capture the creatures. While the television series is set in the U.K., the film version will be set in the U.S.

"There is a solid mythology to the series, but the movie has the dinosaur element of ‘Jurassic Park’ and the time travel element of ‘Lost,’ and it just feels like the kind of big movie that Warner Bros. does well," Foster told Variety.


The press release for the BBC America season debut reads:

From the creators of Walking with Dinosaurs comes a new U.S. premiere season of monster hit Primeval. Fans can look forward to new cast members, horrifying monsters, stunning special effects and a rare location shoot in London’s British Museum as well as a U.S. feature film in the works for 2010. New cast members include Jason Flemying, recently returned from playing Brad Pitt’s father in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and Laila Rouass, best known as Amber Gates in Footballers Wive$. The new season also brings an unusual new monster designed entirely by a Primeval fan. Primeval premieres Saturday, May 16, 9:00 p.m. ET/PT.

At the start of the new season, Nick Cutter (Douglas Henshall, French Film, Dorian Gray) is still reeling from Stephen’s death and the extent of his wife Helen’s (Juliet Aubrey, (Still Crazy, The Constant Gardener) betrayal. As he fights to re-focus his embattled team, the anomalies continue to present an unrelenting series of threats. If the team thought the Mammoth was a tough nemesis, then the Giganotosaurus is truly epic. Bigger and badder than a T-Rex, the dino-hunters are faced with the one predator they fear the most.

In addition, creatures steeped in ancient folklore begin to appear as it becomes clear that the origins of myths and legends are linked with the mysterious anomalies. From a Pristichampus, a creature which bares a striking resemblance to the ancient Egyptian crocodile demon, Ammut, to a Dracorex being hunted by a deranged Knight who’s convinced it’s a dragon he must slay, it seems everyone wants a bite of the action.

As deadlier creatures from the past and future continue to rampage through the anomalies, the cloak of secrecy behind which the team has been working is in jeopardy. Questions are being asked and the conspiracy spreads its net wide. If something is not done quickly, the team’s future is threatened—not to mention the future of humankind itself.

The cinematic appeal of the series was always apparent to co-creator and executive producer, Adrian Hodges: “It’s always been our ambition on Primeval to deliver an exciting, character driven action-adventure show that feels in every way like a mini-feature film each week. We truly believe this third season matches that ambition as never before.

This is the biggest and most thrilling series we’ve done and Tim and I are convinced that there are many more stories to tell yet. Primeval is still growing and our goal each time is to surprise ourselves by what we can come up with. If we can do that, the audience will be surprised and gripped as well.”