The war to get The Forever War made has lasted for, well, forever. Ridley Scott was previously attached to direct the adaptation of Joe Haldeman’s 1974 sci-fi novel, but unfortunately had to move on as the project became trapped in development limbo. The Forever War has finally escaped that limbo, and with Channing Tatum attached to star, studios are now involved in a bidding war over the film.

THR reports that Sony, Warner Bros., and another, unnamed studio are all fighting for the rights to The Forever War, adapted for the big screen by Prometheus and Doctor Strange writer Jon Spaihts. Spaihts will produce the film alongside The LEGO Movie producer Roy Lee (the pair are also developing that Cube remake we told you about).

The story centers on William Mandella, a reluctant soldier drafted into the military to fight an alien threat that resides incredibly far away. There’s just one other problem: while he’s been away, he’s only aged months, while Earth has aged at a far advanced rate. Here’s the synopsis from Amazon:

The Earth’s leaders have drawn a line in the interstellar sand–despite the fact that the fierce alien enemy they would oppose is inscrutable, unconquerable, and very far away. A reluctant conscript drafted into an elite Military unit, Private William Mandella has been propelled through space and time to fight in the distant thousand-year conflict; to perform his duties and do whatever it takes to survive the ordeal and return home. But “home” may be even more terrifying than battle, because, thanks to the time dilation caused by space travel, Mandella is aging months while the Earth he left behind is aging centuries…

Richard Edlund, the visual effects master who worked on Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark, has held the rights to the novel since the ‘70s, and will remain on as a producer. Ridley Scott was attached to direct back in 2008, with Blade Runner scribe David Peoples and World War Z writer Matthew Michael Carnahan among those who attempted to deliver a workable screenplay.

Channing Tatum recently tried his acting hand at heavy sci-fi in the WachowskisJupiter Ascending, but The Forever War seems a little more up his alley.

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