Anton Yelchin's Sci-Fi Short 'Rise' Being Developed Into Feature-Length Movie

By Dave McNary, Variety

Hacksaw Ridge producer Brian Oliver and Filmula’s Johnny Lin are developing a feature-length version of the dystopian short Rise, which starred the late Anton Yelchin.

The five-minute short, directed by David Karlak, takes place in a world where man’s attempt to create artificial intelligence has spun wildly out of control, leading to a war between man and machine. Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton wrote the script for the short.

Oliver and Lin will fully finance and produce the feature film. They obtained the rights through Warner Bros., where the project had been set up initially, in the hopes of developing a franchise.

Lin is an executive producer on Tom Cruise’s upcoming crime thriller American Made. Oliver received a Best Picture Oscar nomination as a producer of Black Swan, and also produced Black Mass, A Walk Among the Tombstones, and Everest. He’s the founder of Cross Creek and is in post-production on American Made.

“Brian and I are extremely excited to have an opportunity to build a film franchise based on David Karlak’s wildly popular short,” Lin said. “I hope this is the start to a long-lasting financing and producing relationship.”

Watch the short starring Yelchin: