They can do movies on a big-scale like it’s nobody’s business (Star Trek) or fill a smaller story with grand sights (Super 8) — if not, in the case of the latter, a coherent or interesting screenplay — but can Bad Robot do micro-budget? That’s a question for which we may soon have an answer, as Vulture reports that J.J. Abrams‘ company have, along with Paramount, picked up a script from Oren Uziel entitled God Particle — and they’re doing it, as they say, on the cheap.

I wouldn’t concern myself with that, but actually be excited; the logline makes it sound like a pretty fascinating experiment in budget. At the mere price of $5 million, the film will revolve around American astronauts “left floating in the middle of now-even-more-empty space” after an accident with the Large Hadron Collider erases Earth from site. While some hope does, initially, arrive by way of an incoming European ship, suspicions abound that this is actually “a harbinger of doom.” (Wouldn’t you say there’s a shade or two of Alfonso Cuarón‘s Gravity?)

One could’ve already guessed — thanks to a) numerous past productions and b) an always-tentative schedule on his part — but Abrams probably won’t direct God Particle himself. I imagine such duties will go to an up-and-coming genre guy that they can, of course, get to work for both a cheap price and a quick pace. Paramount’s micro-budget arm, Insurge Pictures, would likely put the film out… whenever it’s ready, I suppose.

What are your impressions of God Particle? Is this a smart business move for Bad Robot?