Denis Villeneuve to adapt Arthur C. Clarke's RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA for the screen

Denis Villeneuve has lined up his first post-Dune duology project. Villeneuve will be tackling a film adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke's classic 1973 science fiction novel, Rendezvous with Rama.

Set in the year 2130, Rendezvous with Rama charts what happens when an apparently huge, rogue asteroid enters the Solar system. A probe flyby reveals that the object is in fact a geometrically perfect cylinder, fifty kilometres long, and clearly of alien origin. The spacecraft Endeavour is diverted to intercept the object, which is dubbed "Rama." Penetrating the interior of Rama, the explorers discover an entire alien world held within a cylindrical construct, apparently devoid of organic life...but that does not mean it isn't dangerous.

Rendezvous with Rama is Clarke's most acclaimed novel, even moreso than 2001: A Space Odyssey. Rama won the Hugo, Nebula and John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Novel, as well as the Locus, Seiun, Jupiter and BSFA Awards. The book features a fictional space agency mission to look for rogue asteroids, known as Spaceguard. In 1992 NASA created a real Project Spaceguard, inspired by the fictional one. Since 1992, the Spaceguard and related programmes has discovered tens of thousands of Earth-orbit-crossing asteroids and comets.

Clarke returned to the setting sixteen years later, co-writing with former NASA engineer Gentry Lee a sequel trilogy dubbed The Rama Cycle: Rama II (1989), The Garden of Rama (1991) and Rama Revealed (1993). Lee later wrote two more novels in the same universe, but not featuring a Rama spacecraft: Bright Messengers (1995) and Double Full Moon Night (1999). These novels were not as well-received as the original book. Clarke noted that he considered these sequels to constitute one "possible" continuation or sequel to the original story, not the definitive one.

The novel has previously been adapted as a 1996 video puzzle game (inspired by Myst) and a 2009 BBC Radio adaptation. Morgan Freeman is a huge fan of the novel and in the 1990s picked up the film rights. He developed the project for many years, bringing on David Fincher to direct. The Freeman-Fincher partnership to make the film endured into 2012 before Fincher departed. Freeman noted that finding a script and finance for the film was difficult, partially due to the high vfx requirements but a distinct lack of traditional action sequences. Villeneuve is the perfect director to tackle this project, having encountered and overcome a similar restriction with his 2016 movie Arrival.

Alcon Entertainment (who shoot The Expanse for Amazon) will produce and finance the film. They are looking for a studio distribution partner. Villeneuve will tackle the project once Dune: Part Two is released in late 2023.