Homer’s ‘The Odyssey’ Heading to Space?

Warner Bros. and the producer of the 'Harry Potter' films are taking one of literature's most well known tales and shipping it off to space -- as if they didn't have enough operas going on up there already. Are you ready to take out your cliff notes for 'The Odyssey'?

Yes, Warner Bros. is forging a futuristic adaptation of Homer's Greek epic 'The Odyssey,' hiring newcomer James DiLapo to write the screenplay and setting it among the stars. 1821 Pictures ('The Invention of Lying', 'Machete Kills') hatched the idea and will produce along with David Heyman, who shepherded those sorta successful 'Harry Potter' flicks.

Since you presumably read it in high school, you'll recall that 'The Odyssey' focuses on Odysseus and his journey home after the fall of Troy. It takes Odysseus 10 years to reach Ithaca after the just-as-long Trojan War, during which he encounters Calypso, Poseidon and the Cyclops (among many others). In his absence, it is assumed he has died, and his wife Penelope and son Telemachus must deal with a group of unruly suitors, who compete for Penelope's hand in marriage.

No director has been hired yet for the film, which the studio believes could launch a franchise. Brad Pitt was once attached to star (he also toplined Warner Bros.' more traditional telling of Homer's 'The Iliad,' 'Troy') but it doesn't appear that he's involved any longer.