Looks like epic sci-fi action movies are getting a real boost lately, as I’m hearing more and more sci-fi theme movies going into development with major studios. The latest to get the big-screen treatment is a spec script by Shane Salerno called “The Doomsday Protocol”, which according to The Hollywood Reporter, sounds a lot like “Seven Samurai” in outer space. As you’ll recall, Akira Kurosawa’s “Seven Samurai” concerned seven masterless swordsmen who are hired by poor villagers to protect their home from bandits. It was later adapted into the American Western “The Magnificent Seven”.

From THR:

In a seven-figure deal, Fox has picked up “Doomsday Protocol,” an original spec by Shane Salerno.

Plot details are being kept under wraps, but it is known to be an epic science fiction adventure in the vein of “The Seven Samurai” involving a group of aliens and humans with various abilities who are brought together to save Earth.

Fox’s Alex Young developed the project with Salerno and will oversee.

Salerno, repped by Endeavor, has the actioners “Alien vs. Predator: Requiem,” “Ghost Rider,” “Shaft” and “Armageddon” among his credits.

Shane Salerno is no stranger to sci-fi. He wrote last year’s “AVPR: Aliens vs Predator - Requiem”, and is one of the writers on the killer shark movie “Meg”.

Okay, so maybe those two films don’t exactly look great on the resume, but the plot of the film sure sounds like a winner to me, even though it has already been done before by Roger Corman. Remember 1980’s “Battle Beyond the Stars”? It was basically “Seven Samurai” in outer space, too.

But hey, that was a while ago. Time for another one.