James Bobin — the man behind the camera for Alice Through the Looking Glass and Disney’s The Muppets — has a new film on his docket.
The Hollywood Reporter just announced that Bobin (who also, it should be noted, is one of the creators of the excellent Flight Of The Concords) will be directing Lionsgate’s movie adaptation of Tal M. Klein’s upcoming debut science fiction novel The Punch Escrow. The film rights to The Punch Escrow, which is set to be released on July 25th, were heated, with multiple studios bidding. Lionsgate eventually won.
What is The Punch Escrow about? Set in the year 2147, the book follows Joel Byram, a man who spends his days training artifical intelligence engines how to act more human. Joel’s life is forever changed one day when he is accidentally duplicated while teleporting.
Following the duplication, Joel must work to outsmart the shadowy organisation the controls teleportation and get back to the woman he loves. And, you know, there’s two of him.
The Punch Escrow is being published by Inkshares, a tech company and reader-driven publisher that has an interesting business model: authors post samples and/or pitches of their books on Inkshares. If the work gets 250 pre-orders, it gets a ‘light’ publishing. If it gets 750 pre-orders, it gets a ‘fully-funded’ publishing, which includes editing, design, printing, distribution, and marketing.
The Punch Escrow is currently available for pre-order in the US through Inkshares and Amazon.